But not to the point, manager Terry Francona said, where they would consider activating Lowell today instead of leaving him with the PawSox.
"We're not going to do that," Francona said after the Sox lost their third straight on one of the longest night's of David Ortiz's career, one in which he went hitless in six at-bats for only the fourth time. "It didn't surprise me, but I had two texts from Mike Lowell. That was not the shocker of the evening, because that's how he feels.
"We don't want to make a mistake. We do something like that, and he hurts that thumb, that would be a poor decision."
Lowell was lobbying long distance even before Mike Timlin gave up a tiebreaking single to career minor leaguer Nathan Haynes, who eschewed the bunt with two on and no outs to drive home Carl Crawford, who capped a great night (two triples, a terrific diving catch, and a single and stolen base in his last at-bat) to score the winner.
Timlin warmed up before the eighth, but felt some tightness in his back and returned to the clubhouse for treatment, Bryan Corey getting the summons instead. But with the score still tied in the 10th, Timlin replaced Javier Lopez, got a couple of outs to end the inning, but had no answer when Crawford opened the 11th with a single and stole second. The next batter, B.J. Upton, drew a full-count walk, and while Francona called a summit meeting on the mound to discuss how to handle the bunt, Haynes surprised everyone by swinging away.
"I don't know, I guess Joe [Maddon] just took a chance and it paid off," Timlin said of the Rays manager. "I threw a couple of good pitches, a couple cutters in, one he swung over, the other he got enough of to pull past [Dustin Pedroia]."
