"Nobody could push a run across," manager Terry Francona said, "and unfortunately for us they pushed three."
With the win, their second straight in dramatic fashion in this series, the Rays moved 2 1/2 games up on the Sox in the American League East, with a 4-2 decision. It was close, it was taut, it might as well have been the postseason.
"I made some good pitches," Timlin said. "Gave up a couple hits. Threw a good sinker away, not sure how he lifted it. I thought it was a popup. I was extremely surprised; it was a good pitch."
It was a sentiment echoed by Francona, who said, "He didn't miss with that pitch. That was off the plate."
But it wasn't over.
Troy Percival, the Rays' closer, had a bit of a problem. He couldn't find the strike zone. After Jacoby Ellsbury led off the bottom of the 14th with a double, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz walked to put the winning run at the plate in the form of Kevin Youkilis. And Percival was done, led off the field not feeling right, as Jason Hammel ran in from the bullpen. Youkilis brought the Sox closer with a sacrifice fly, his 100th RBI of the season, but that was it, as Boston fell in 5 hours 2 minutes as the last train pulled out of Kenmore Station.
"You're kind of glad you're at home because you always have that last at-bat," Francona said. "But then we gave up the multiple runs, and that made it tougher. I tell you what, to that point so many people did so many things - on both sides of the field. I thought our bullpen was outstanding, I thought their bullpen was outstanding."
Matching each other pitch for pitch and inning for inning, both bullpens proved excellent at extricating themselves from situations. Because it wasn't as if there weren't base runners - the Rays left 13; the Sox 16 - but the relievers got out of their jams.
"I'll take the effort," Jason Varitek said. "We lost this game, but I'll take the effort and the opportunities we had."
