BOSTON -- Mark Hendrickson entered Wednesday's matinee
against the Boston Red Sox with a woeful 7.28 career ERA against
the American League East Division leaders. He did nothing to
improve upon it.
Hendrickson surrendered six runs without retiring a batter as
the Tampa Bay Devil Rays fell to the Red Sox, 9-4, in the rubber
game of a three-game series.
The 6-9 Hendrickson (4-7), who had allowed 10 earned runs in
eight innings over his previous two starts, began by
surrendering a single to Johnny Damon and a walk to Edgar
Renteria.
David Ortiz opened the scoring with an RBIs single and Manny
Ramirez followed with a run-scoring double. After walking Kevin
Millar to load the bases, Hendrickson gave up a two-run double
to Doug Mirabelli before being yanked in favor of Dewon
Brazelton.
Millar scored on a passed ball before Bill Mueller capped the
outburst with a one-out groundout that opened a 6-0 cushion.
Hendrickson's career ERA against the Red Sox ballooned to 8.23
while his overall mark this season increased from 6.23 to 6.82.
"I felt good," Hendrickson said. "I pretty much didn't throw
the ball anywhere I wanted to and it was a tough outing. I
don't think it can get much worse. Everything was up and (I)
walked a few guys to compound the problem, and then the pitch to
Mirabelli - a changeup (that) was belt high, not where I want
to throw it."
Hendrickson was pitching on three days' rest for the first time
this season. "That's no reason," the lefthander said. "I felt
pretty good. I just didn't make pitches."
"He wasn't getting people out," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella
added. "That was the biggest thing. You don't get people out,
nothing works. That's simplifying it, but it's true, isn't it?"
Staked to a 9-1 advantage after five innings, Red Sox starter
David Wells (8-5) allowed two runs - a solo homer and an RBIs
single to Aubrey Huff - and six hits in seven frames to pick up
the easy win. He has received 26 runs of support in his last
two starts.
"I'm not going to complain," said Wells, who has won six of
seven decisions, posting a 3.36 ERA in that span. "That's the
first thing I won't do. It's nice. Another start, another nine
runs. You get six right out of the chute and you just work
with it. That's all you have to do."
The six runs were the most the Red Sox have scored in the first
this season.
"Even though the first inning was long for me, I stayed loose
and threw some balls in the (batting) cage," Wells said. "First
inning, you don't expect to sit long, and that was pretty long.
You just have to stay focused and go out there and make your
pitches."
"I think he could get used to having a lead, for sure. But at
the same time, once again he gets that lead, he knows what to do
with it," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He doesn't
walk people. He works quick. He does a good job with the
lead."
After losing four of their first five on the seven-game
homestand, the Red Sox posted consecutive wins to finish 3-4
before heading out to take on the Chicago White Sox, the team
with baseball's best record.
"We haven't done very well at home, so we did what we could,"
Francona said. "We played well (Tuesday) night and we followed
up with a win today. That's all we can control, and I think we
did a pretty good job of it.
"Coming out and putting up six early is about as good a remedy
for winning a game as you can come up with."
Millar reached base three times, scoring on each occasion to
pace Boston's offense.
"We're going in to play a tough squad in the White Sox, but we
played a good game today," Millar said. "We need to try and get
some wins and keep winning series."
Eduardo Perez hit a two-run homer against Boston reliever John
Halama in the ninth.