Red Sox Live Blog: Felix Doubront Impresses, Rays Win
Manager Terry Francona, who was able to make it to games in Kissimmee and Port Charlotte, pointed out one of the positives in David Ortiz.
"Real good swings," Francona said. "I saw a lot of baseball today and not a lot of runs, but David swung the bat really well so that was nice to see."
Ortiz was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and has reached in five straight plate appearances over the last two games.
Francona said there is a chance that Mike Lowell will play third base in the near future, but did not give a timetable on that. He indicated there may be more of a set schedule on that by tomorrow sometime and we'll update you if we hear anything.
Rays 7-0, Final: We don't have the stats available for this but it's not too often that a team gets shut out twice in a day.
Such is the case with the Red Sox today, who fall 3-0 to Houston and 7-0 to Tampa Bay.
Boston batters have failed to score in 21 straight innings going back to Monday's loss to Baltimore.
The one bright spot was the start by Felix Doubront, who allowed a hit and a walk in three scoreless innings and now has seven scoreless this spring.
The Sox have a quick turnaround before hosting the Mets at City of Palms Park at 1:05 p.m. The game will be on NESN and we'll follow the action right here.
End 8th, Rays 7-0: The Rays break it open in the eighth off Junichi Tazawa, the big blow a two-run homer for infielder Sean Rodriguez, his team-leading fifth of the spring.
Earlier in the frame the Rays pushed the issue on the paths to get another run. With runners on the corners against Tazawa, the man at first broke for second and Gustavo Molina's throw scampered into center, allowing a guy on third whose name I missed to stroll in.
Hank Blalock made an appearance for Tampa Bay and ripped a double into the corner in left off Tazawa. It was the first hit in six spring at-bats for the former 32-home run man.
Mid 8th, Rays 4-0: A double play ends the Sox effort in the eighth after a base hit by Nate Spears gets them a rare base runner.
For what it is worth, they changed the Boston error in the seventh to a hit.
Also, just as a warning, I am not in the press box and not getting all of the lineup changes so I may mess a name up once in a while.
End 7th, Rays 4-0: First their offense goes stagnant, and now the Red Sox' defense hurts them a bit.
With new pitcher Jorge Sosa on the mound, third baseman Jeff Natale was unable to come up with a grounder down the line, putting a runner at second base with no outs.
That man eventually came in to tack on another Rays run.
Mid 7th, Rays 3-0: Another 1-2-3 inning for the Rays and the Sox have now recorded seven hits in 16 innings between the two split-squad games.
And Terry Francona races around the state for this?
End 6th, Rays 3-0: Joe Nelson with no issues in the sixth, although Dioner Navarro got into one that was tracked down in right-center field.
The Rays do a ton of hokey events between innings here, and one which just caught my attention was the standard announcement of birthdays to some of those in the crowd. Interspersed with Rays and Sox fans were birthday wishes for Erik Estrada of CHiPs fame, rapper Flavor Flav and former NHL star Brett Hull.
Mid 6th, Rays 3-0: Andy Sonnanstine tosses a 1-2-3 inning to keep the Red Sox bats quiet.
It is now 18 straight innings without a run.
Joe Nelson has relieved Boof Bonser on the mound for Boston.
End 5th, Rays 3-0: The Sox finally get Ben Zobrist out and by doing so strand a runner at second base.
The highlight of the inning for Boston was when Boof Bonser had Carlos Pena nearly jump out of his shoes on a swinging strike three.
Maybe it was just the ferocity of Pena's swing, but the pitch looked like it was no more than 65 mph. Pena's been known to miss a few pitches here and there but that was a doozy.
Andy Sonnanstine is on for the Rays.
Mid 5th, Rays 3-0: And that's why Carl Crawford will make big money somewhere after this season.
Crawford just made a superb diving catch of a drive off the bat of Anthony Rizzo, who is getting more mention in this blog than I ever thought he would.
Rizzo, a lefty, hit a line drive that sliced away from Crawford toward the line. The speedy left fielder dove head first and caught the ball inches above the ground.
The Red Sox' stretch without a run extends to 17 innings. Dan Wheeler was on the mound for the Rays.
End 4th, Rays 3-0: Ben Zobrist doubled for the second time in as many at-bats and eventually scores when Boof Bonser hits Dioner Navarro with a pitch with the bases loaded.
Bonser then gave up a two-run singled to Gabe Kapler, a hard shot to left.
The inning nearly ended when B.J. Upton hit a dribbler with two outs but it slowed in the grass and Upton's speed gave third baseman Adrian Beltre no play, loading the bases.
Zobrist is now 4-for-7 with a home run and two doubles against the Sox this spring.
Mid 4th, 0-0: David Ortiz gets his fourth hit in as many at-bats but the Sox still have a goose egg next to their name.
Including the split-squad 3-0 loss to Houston and the last three innings of Monday's loss to Baltimore, Boston has gone 16 frames without a run.
Mike Cameron reached for the second time in the game after Ortiz but Wade Davis notched his fourth strikeout in as many innings by fanning Bill Hall to end the threat.
End 3rd, 0-0: For the second straight day Mike Lowell received two at-bats but no ground balls at first base before being pulled in favor of Anthony Rizzo.
Lowell did have a pair of putouts on grounders in the first.
Felix Doubront with just two hits allowed and a walk through three. Wade Davis is warming up for his fourth inning for the Rays.
Mid 3rd, 0-0. Groundout. Groundout. Groundout.
Those were the results for the Sox in the third as Wade Davis continues to cruise.
People dressed in fruit are racing around the field right now. Not quite the same excitement level when it does not involve encased meats.
For what it's worth, the orange won.
End 2nd, 0-0: We are moving right along here after Felix Doubront works around a one-out double by Ben Zobrist.
Doubront got B.J. Upton on a nice breaking ball to end it.
Not always the first name which comes to mind among Red Sox pitching prospects, Doubront is an intriguing arm.
Just 22, he now has six scoreless innings this spring coming off a nice season at Double-A Portland.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Maybe David Ortiz was right when he told us not to worry about those ugly numbers earlier this spring.
He lashed Wade Davis's first offering of the second inning into left for a single and has now reached base in four straight plate appearances over the last two days.
Mike Cameron also singled in the frame but the two runners were stranded on back-to-back grounders to second baseman Ben Zobrist.
End 1st, 0-0: He didn't miss as many bats but Felix Doubront also has a 1-2-3 inning for the Sox.
He induced a pair of groundouts and then a fly to left off from Evan Longoria which sounded pretty good when it left the bat.
David Ortiz leads off the second for Boston.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Wade Davis made the Sox look silly in the first with strikeouts of Marco Scutaro, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew.
Davis is highly regarded in the Rays' system and the front-runner for the fifth spot in the rotation. Sox fans might want to get to know him a bit better.
My early impressions are this. He has a pretty good mound presence and had everything working in the first. He pulled the string on Lowell for a swinging strike three and blew gas by Drew.
7:00 p.m.: During the national anthem, Red Sox manager Terry Francona was seen in front of the dugout so we know he has arrived safely.
If you missed the post earlier, Francona had committed to managing in Kissimmee this afternoon before making the trip during rush hour to Port Charlotte, roughly 160 miles.
Fortunately, the matinee ended in quick fashion and the Sox were able to hit the road early.
By the way, the "Star Spangled Banner" was sung by the Snow Bird Quartet, a collection of four white-haired gentlemen with pipes of gold. Only in Florida.
It might not make any of you in Boston feel better after a few days of commuting via canoe, but just so you know, it's a bit cloudy and cool tonight in Port Charlotte.
6:40 p.m.: After being forced to throw out my apple (the fruit, not the computer) by security and then being told to check in at guest services down the third base line (guest services at Charlotte Sports Park is on the first base line) and then being moved to a table in the stands when they ran out of seats in the press box, I am finally prepared to follow the Red Sox and Rays for you.
Starting lineups are in and with a host of regulars it has the look of a mid-July affair. Here are the lineups, first for the Red Sox:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Mike Lowell, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Cameron, CF
Bill Hall, 2B
Ryan Kalish, LF
Dusty Brown, C
Starting for the Sox on the mound is Felix Doubront.
The Rays' lineup looks like this:
Jason Bartlett, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Pat Burrell, DH
B.J. Upton, CF
Dioner Navarro, C
Gabe Kapler, RF
On the mound for Tampa Bay is right hander Wade Davis.
4:20 p.m.: We will be checking in from Charlotte Sports Park in a bit, but just wanted to update the day's events.
A split-squad version of the Sox lost 3-0 to Houston in Kissimmee this afternoon. Jon Lester allowed just a run in three innings, but the offense managed only four hits against Roy Oswalt and five other Astros pitchers.
Mike Lowell will make his second start at first base in the nightcap against the Rays.
7:37 a.m.: Eyes everywhere will be on the roads in and around Port Charlotte on Tuesday, as the Red Sox wait to see if manager Terry Francona can pull off a remarkable example of double duty and make it to their meeting with the Tampa Bay Rays on time.
Francona is scheduled to be with one half of the team in Kissimmee for a 1:05 p.m. game against Houston and old pal Brad Mills. The Sox skipper has designs on leaving that game when it ends and driving the 160 miles or so to Port Charlotte — in rush hour, no less.
Meeting with reporters on Monday morning, Francona seemed as if he was reconsidering his ambitious plan and will be forced to play it by ear. If and when he arrives, he'll see a collection of relievers and second-rate starters fill in the gaps for the Sox, who have been struggling to find enough arms to kill innings the past couple of days.
Jon Lester and at least four others are expected to pitch in Kissimmee.
The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and we will follow it all right here as the Sox and Rays renew their rivalry.
A split-squad Boston team lost 6-4 in Port Charlotte on March 6.
