David Price is held back as the benches empty after he hit Mike Carp with a pitch during the fourth inning. (Photo courtesy of Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
David Price is held back as the benches empty after he hit Mike Carp with a pitch during the fourth inning. (Photo courtesy of Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

The question of whether there was bad blood between the Rays and Red Sox was answered last night. The answer? A resounding yes. Three hit batsmen and four tossed managers later, Boston walked away with a 3-2, extra innings walk-off win. What an eventful/weird night it was.

The game started well for the Rays after David DeJesus hit a lead off double to right, and advanced to third base on an error by Grady Sizemore. Ben Zobrist drove in DeJesus on a groundout to second a batter later, giving the Rays an early 1-0 lead. Despite getting a runner into scoring position in the second inning, when Wil Myers walked then swiped both second and third base, the Rays were quiet (offensively) until the fifth inning when they tagged Brandon Workman for the second run of the game.

In the fifth, Yunel Escobar led things off with a hard hit double of the Monster. Jose Molina moved Escobar to third on a beautifully executed bunt up the right side. If I may, Molina looked like he was setting up camp as he slowly lumbered up the first base line — subsequently getting tagged out halfway between home and first. I’ve seen Molina run slow before, but Christ! J-Mo looked like he ran out of gas two steps out of the batters box. Escobar was driven home on a DeJesus single to right, giving Tampa Bay a two-run advantage. From there, the Rays offense wasn’t. They three more base runners (two walks, and a fielder’s choice) on the bags in the remaining innings of the game, though none of them made it past first.

On the other side of things, David Price set the tone for the night when he plunked David Ortiz on the first pitch of the at-bat, with a runner at first. Red Sox skipper John Farrell was ejected when warnings were issued to both benches. I guess he took exception to the warning and felt the need to argue. I don’t doubt the HBP was intentional. However, the ever eloquent Ortiz framed his argument as the HBP being retribution for him teeing off twice against Price in the ALDS. I’d argue, that it would have been low hanging fruit to hit Jonny Gomes with a pitch. Besides, there were already two outs in the inning, and there was no guarantee that Price — who was trying to set the tone early on — would have even seen Gomes in the first. No offense Ortiz, but you were literally the elephant in the room…urm, stadium in that inning.

Things were quiet until the fourth, when Price plunked Mike Carp with two-outs and a runner on second. The benches cleared, yet Price wasn’t ejected. Things didn’t sit well with the Red Sox bench coach, who was serving as the interim manager, and he was promptly ejected. 

Another game, another bench clearing scrum. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)
Another game, another bench clearing scrum. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)

In a moment of camaraderie between the relievers of both teams, this happened once the scrum cleared:

(GIF courtesy of MLB)
(GIF courtesy of MLB)

After the game, crew chief Jeff Kellogg explained why Price wasn’t tossed after the warnings and his second hit batter,

“If we feel there was intent to hit the batter, he would have been ejected,” Kellogg said. “We felt the pitch was certainly inside but not intentional. So that’s why he stayed in the game.”

In kind, Price said the pitch to Carp was not intentional,

“That’s not something I’m trying to do,” Price said. “I had six lefties in the lineup today. I’ve got to be able to throw my fastball in.”

Brett Phillips of DRaysBay made an interesting observation, “Brian Anderson noticed that, as Price had clearly been missing inside all night, and how warnings had been given, he had felt no confidence to throw in to Red Sox batters.”

Phillips went on to describe what happened next,

With the home crowd worked up into an absolute frenzy, Price got Sizemore to ground out to second. Check out Mike Carp’s slide into second base:

Eat it, Mike Carp. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)
Eat it, Mike Carp. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)

Replays showed that Carp angled his body, cleats up, and slid well wide of second.

The Red Sox began to chip away at the lead in the fifth when David Ortiz hit a liner to left, scoring Xander Bogaerts who initially reached on a single with two-outs. With one out in the seventh, Xander Bogaerts doubled to left plating Jackie Bradley Jr. from first. The game would remain locked up until the bottom of the 10th.

The inning started well for Juan-Carlos Oviedo, when he coaxed a groundout to second out of Big Papi on the first pitch. But Oviedo hit Gomes with a 1-1 fastball. Gomes, none too happy, glared at Oviedo as he made his way to first. It was obvious that Oviedo had a problem with his command, as evidenced by Oviedo’s reaction:

My bad. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)
My bad. (GIF courtesy of DRaysBay)

AJ Pierzynski won the game for the Sox in grandiose fashion, on a walk off triple to the right-center gap. Wil Myers and Desmond Jennings collided on the play, and I’d imagine the collision was due, in part, to a lack of communication between the two outfielders. It could be argued that the play could have been made, weren’t it for the collision. Communication is key, gentlemen. Per a tweet from Joe Smith of the Times, the two outfielders are okay.

The New What Next

Jake Odorizzi will take on Ruby De La Rosa and the Red Sox in tonight’s game. The Rays will try to snap their four game losing streak against the 25 year-old RHP. You can read about the pitching match up in our series preview, and I’ll post the starting lineup when it becomes available.

Rays 5/31/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Zobrist SS
Joyce LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Jennings CF
Kiermaier RF
Rodriguez 2B
Solis C
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness 

  • No Yunel Escobar or Jose Molina in tonight’s lineup. Ali Solis will make his first start with the Rays.
  • Thank you to all who attended our watch party last night — I’d call it an overwhelming success! More watch parties are in the cards. Since there are a good number of games at home in June, I’d imagine our next watch party will take place in July. This is where you come in: is there a particular game that you’d like to watch with us? Let us know!
  • Yunel Escobar was pulled from the game with a tight quad. There’s been no word if he’ll appear in the contest tonight.
  • A series of tweets:

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