Killing Three Rays With One Stone

And they did it the hard way: 'round the horn.

The Red Sox turned their first triple play in 17 years last night against the Rays in Game 2, and they did it 5-4-3: Lowrie to Pedroia to Gonzalez. With two on and no outs in the 4th, Sean Rodriguez hit a hard grounder to third. Jed Lowrie stepped on third, threw to Dustin Pedroia at second, who fired to Adrian Gonzalez for the third out. (And Rodriguez is no slow poke either.) The last triple play was the unassisted one John Valentin turned in 1994.

Here is the triple killing courtesy of YouTube (with thanks to my buddies at Surviving Grady):



Despite the heroics, it was a bad night for Lowrie, whose error in the second cost the Sox two runs, and he botched a rundown later in the game that let another run score. Erik Bedard pitched well over six innings, struck out six, walked none and deserved a better fate.

The Red Sox had just three hits again in the second game, and played without David Ortiz all day. At first it was said that he was ill, but it turns out he has bursitis in his heel, and will be out for a while. No one for sure how long, but it is believed he will not head for the DL.

The 6-2 loss and New York's win in Kansas City drops the Red Sox into second place by a half-game. The three game series ends this afternoon with John Lackey taking on David Price. (Remember when we moaned when Lackey was matched up against C.C. Sabathia? We'll see what happens.)