ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -Daisuke Matsuzaka took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and Jed Lowrie had a sacrifice fly, giving the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener of the AL championship series Friday night.
Matsuzaka struck out eight and walked four through six innings. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia kept Tampa Bay hitless by sliding on his knees to snag Carlos Pena’s one-hopper for the second out in the sixth.
Jason Bay drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and went to third when Mark Kotsay doubled down the left-field line for the third hit off James Shields, who also started Game 1 for Tampa Bay in its first-round playoff series against the Chicago White Sox.
Lowrie, who drove in the winning run with a ninth-inning single in Boston’s division series-clinching victory over the Los Angeles Angels, followed with a sacrifice fly that allowed Bay to score and Kotsay to move to third.
econd and Jacoby Ellsbury popped to shortstop Jason Bartlett, who made an over-the-head catch in shallow center field.
The Rays breezed into the ALCS by beating the White Sox in their first-ever playoff series, while the Red Sox are playing for the pennant for the fourth time in six years after beating the Los Angeles Angels in the other ALDS.
With fans clanging cowbells and standing and cheering every strike, Shields fanned Ellsbury to start the game, then quickly slipped into a tight spot when Pedroia walked on a 3-2 pitch and Kevin Youkilis hit a drive to right field that landed just inside the line and bounced over a short fence in foul territory for a ground-rule double.
Pedroia, who would have scored easily if the ball had not gone into the stands, rounded third and headed home where plate umpire Tim McClelland waited a few feet up the line. Shields escaped by striking out J.D. Drew.
Matsuzaka, 18-3 overall, also got off to a shaky start, walking leadoff man Akinori Iwamura and two of the next four batters to load the bases with two outs.
Opponents were hitless in 14 at-bats against the right-hander during the regular season, and he got out of another jam by retiring Cliff Floyd.
Tampa Bay won the season series between the AL East rivals 10-8, including eight of nine at Tropicana Field, where the Rays compiled the best home record in the majors.
The Red Sox were 7-2 against the Rays at Fenway Park, although both of Tampa Bay’s victories there came during a 10-day confidence-building stretch in which the Rays took four of six games from the World Series champions to hang on to first place.
“We know what we’re getting when we face these guys and they know what they’re getting when they face us,” Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli said. “There are not going to be any surprises.”
The sellout crowd at Tropicana Field included a generous sprinkling of fans wearing Boston T-shirts, jerseys and hats, but nothing like the sea of red that usually colors the stands for Red Sox stops at The Trop during the regular season.
Outside the domed stadium, it was strange to see parking lots filling four hours before game time and fans parading back and forth in front of the building seeking tickets.
About 6,000 upper-deck seats remain covered for the ALCS, reducing capacity to about 36,000 – usually more than adequate for one of the poorest drawing franchises in baseball. The Rays have agreed to uncover the seats if they advance to the World Series.
A moment of silence was observed before the game for George Kissell, who spent 69 years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a player, manager, coach and instructor. The longtime St. Petersburg resident died this week following a car accident. He was 88.
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