Jonathan Papelbon is one of the most dominant closers in baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays got to him on his home field on Tuesday night. The Rays scored two runs in the ninth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4. The win widens the Rays lead to 1.5 games over the Red Sox in the AL East.
Scott Kazmir started for the Rays and threw six innings. In his six innings of work he gave up only two runs while striking out four. Dan Wheeler got the win after he gave up two runs and the lead to the Red Sox in the bottom of the eighth. Troy Percival worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his 28th save of the season.
The Rays tied the game at four in the top of the ninth when Dan Johnson hit a pinch hit solo home run off of Papelbon. They ended up taking the lead in the ninth when Dioner Navarro singled in Fernando Perez.
The Rays got a much needed win tonight and will look for another one on Wednesday night. Andy Sonnanstine is set to start against Josh Beckett.
