Walk This Way - Rays Beat Sox 1-0

Daniel Bard's bases-loaded walk to Evan Longoria in the top of the 7th inning helped end the Red Sox winning streak at 3 as the Tampa Bays Rays nipped the Sox 1-0 in the Patriots Day finale of the 4-game series. Bard pitched well, going 6.2 innings before running out of gas. He only allowed 4 hits, but 7 walks ultimately proved to be his undoing including 3 in the 7th.

Rays starter James Shields held the Red Sox in check with 8.1 shutout innings. Like Bard he allowed 4 hits, but he only walked two. He was removed in the bottom of the 9th with one out after giving a free pass to Dustin Pedroia.

Fernando Rodney closed out the 9th for Tampa retiring Adrian Gonzalez on a ground out. Following an intentional walk to David Ortiz (Rays manager Joe Maddon opting to put the winning run on base rather than pitch to a red-hot Ortiz), Rodney struck out Cody Ross to seal the win for Tampa.



NOTES - Cody Ross had a pair of hits for the Red Sox.

The 11:05 AM game time had everyone up early enough; they were greeted with reaction to manager Bobby Valentine's remarks about Kevin Youkilis on WHDH's Sports Xtra show Sunday night: "I don't think he's as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason. But [on Saturday] it seemed, you know, he's seeing the ball well, got those two walks, got his on-base percentage up higher than his batting average, which is always a good thing, and he'll move on from there." Needless to say, the Boston sports media had a field day dissecting Valentine's remark as well as the reaction to it by the players.

Youkilis was not in the lineup Monday. Valentine said that was due to a sore groin and not related to his Sunday night remarks.

Jon Lester goes for the Red Sox Tuesday night at Fenway when the Texas Rangers come in for a 3-game series.