Fightin' Redsocks lose heartbreaker, chance to gain ground on NY, Tampa and Chicago

DATELINE _ Boston. The scoreboard scrabbled a scornful skreed last night among the Fenway faithful, as Boston's Beantown Battlers bonked their blond bleacher brows against the rising Rays of rapture, with the hometown heroes hammered, 14-5.

Fortunately, Johnny Redsock and his mates will be sending out the stallwart rubberarm himself, Tim Wakefield, tonight in big Rubber Game 3 of the September series. The Wakeman is looking to notch win Number 4 on the year.

Last night, Japanese pitching sensation Dice K started off solidly, holding the Rays scoreless, until things started to unravel a bit. Dice ran into trouble in the fifth, when the Rays plated their 7th through 12th runs. Dice was only charged with 8 during his 4.2 inning stretch. But he whiffed two!

Among the hitting stars for the Redsocks was catcher Victor Martinez, who went 2-2 with 2 RBIs. Victor is rapidly closing in on that elusive 65-RBI mark for the season. 

One positive note for the "Sawx" was rookie pitcher Robert Coello, who hurled a one-two-three ninth, lowering his ERA to 20.25. The 26-year-old youngster struck out one.