Devil Rays vs Red Sox (9/21-9/23)

Game 1: Josh Beckett collected his 20th win on Friday night and at the same time, he stopped the bleeding for the Boston Red Sox.

Beckett pitched 6 innings, allowing one run and striking out eight. The Red Sox offense was also able to give Beckett some support. David Ortiz led the charge with a homerun and 4 RBIs. Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek, and Jacoby Ellsbury also made strong contributions in the 8-1 victory.

Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, and Eric Gagne combined for a scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th to finish it off for Beckett and the Red Sox.

The Yankees also lost on Friday night which gave the Red Sox a 2.5 game lead.

Game 2: All the Red Sox needed to clinch the playoffs on Saturday night was a victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Daisuke Matsuzaka drew the start and looked decent. He left having only allowed two runs in 6.2 innings, unfortunately he left some runners on base and Javier Lopez allowed them to score when he gave up a homerun to Carlos Pena.

The Devil Rays took a 6-5 lead and took it to the 9th inning before Al Reyes entered the ballgame. Reyes had already blown two saves against the Red Sox this season. Jason Varitek started off the inning with a game-tying solo homerun. A couple of batters later, the Red Sox would ensure themselves a trip to the playoffs when Julio Lugo blasted a 2-run homer off of Reyes.

Papelbon entered the game in the bottom of the 9th and retired the Devil Rays in order on 12 pitches. The win kept the Red Sox 2.5 games ahead of the Yankees who beat Toronto in extra innings.

Game 3: Tim Wakefield's recent struggles continued against a team he normally dominates. Wakefield allowed 4 runs in 5 innings against the Devil Rays.

The Red Sox battled back with 3 runs in top of the 6th inning, but Tavarez allowed the Devil Rays to take a 5-3 lead when he allowed them to put across a run.

The Red Sox collected another run in the 8th when Alex Cora hit a rare homerun. Unfortunately for Boston, nobody was on base. For Al Reyes, Sunday was a better day than Saturday as he was able to retire the Red Sox in the 9th inning and seal the deal for the Devil Rays.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays again on Sunday which dropped the Red Sox lead to 1.5 games, however, on Monday afternoon the Yankees lost 4-1 to the Blue Jays. The Red Sox will go into Tuesday with a 2 game lead in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 2-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night. Curt Schilling and Chad Gaudin will square off in the opener from Fenway Park.