Ray of hope is blasted

Perez's ninth-inning homer finishes Sox

April 23, 2005|Globe Staff

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There's no clock in baseball, but there is a pitch count.

That was the Red Sox' hope.

Scott Kazmir, a 21-year-old lefthander, mesmerized the Sox for seven innings (one run on four hits) at Tropicana Field last night before the largest crowd (30,530) of the season, but was close to his 110-pitch limit (108, to be exact), so Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella called on his bullpen to hold a lead.

But the Red Sox erased a 4-1 deficit with a run in the eighth and two in ninth. Eduardo Perez then pinch hit for Alex Sanchez in the bottom of the inning and hit a titanic, first-pitch home run (estimated at 459 feet) off Alan Embree to give Tampa Bay a 5-4 win.

"I'm not icing my shoulder, I'm icing my pride right now," said Embree. "It was just a bad pitch. Bad location. It was supposed to be down and in and it was up and in, and he was guessing up and in. That's a bad flashback right there."

Embree, who has allowed three home runs in 8 2/3 innings this season, was referring to the tying, two-run homer he allowed to Vernon Wells Tuesday against Toronto.

"I felt great in the pen warming up," said Embree. "The team had a great comeback. It stings knowing we battled back so much to get it tied up."

Perez has hit the Devil Rays' last three home runs (two off Randy Johnson Tuesday). It was the 13th walkoff homer in franchise history.

"I've seen [Embree] a lot since his Cleveland days," Perez said. "It's tough to lead off against a pitcher like that, so you enjoy the moment. As a pinch hitter, you've got to be ready."

There was a different view from the Boston side.

"It stinks," said center fielder Johnny Damon, who drove in the tying run in the ninth with a single past a drawn-in infield. "If we had a chance to get our big guys up again, I think we would have pulled it out. This team knows how to win."

In the eighth, with Kazmir gone, Manny Ramirez tripled to left-center off Travis Harper and scored on Kevin Millar's single to center, making it 4-2.

Then in the ninth, Devil Rays closer Danys Baez walked pinch hitter Trot Nixon to start the inning, and Nixon came around on Mark Bellhorn's double. After Bellhorn was advanced to third on Ramon Vazquez's bunt, he came in on Damon's single to the right side.

Bellhorn had an interesting night. He had two doubles, in the fifth (when he scored the Sox' first run) and the ninth. In the third inning, after stealing second base, he got picked off, and in the home half of the inning, he committed an error, which proved costly when Julio Lugo doubled home a pair of runs with a drive just under the yellow home run line on the fence in left.

"I don't know what happened exactly. It just bounced out of my glove," Bellhorn said.

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