Red Sox eat crow, with a side of Rice

[July 29, 2009]  BOSTON (AP) -- Rajai Davis singled home Mark Ellis in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, then did it again in the 11th on Tuesday night and the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 9-8.

Boston led 7-4 when Jonathan Papelbon blew just his third save in 28 opportunities, thanks in part to two ninth-inning throwing errors by shortstop Nick Green. It was still 7-7 with two out in the 11th when Ellis doubled off Manny Delcarmen (2-2) and scored on Davis' single to right.

Davis scored on Adam Kennedy's career-high fifth hit to make it 9-7. Craig Breslow (4-4) pitched a perfect 10th for the win, and Andrew Bailey earned his 12th save despite giving one run back in the 11th.

Delcarmen gave up two runs on three hits, striking out one in 1 2-3 innings.

One night after the slumping Red Sox offense broke out with 14 hits, the club hung Jim Rice's No. 14 on the Fenway facade to honor the Hall of Fame slugger. Then, everyone on both teams went out and hit like him.

Ellis -- Oakland's No. 14 -- had four of the A's 21 hits while scoring four times, and Orlando Cabrera had three hits as the A's avoided falling 17 games below .500 for the first time since 1997.

Kevin Youkilis had three hits for Boston, including a two-run to spark Boston's five-run third inning. J.D. Drew had three hits, including a pair of doubles; he is 8-for-20 in the homestand following an 0-for-24 slump.

Jacoby Ellsbury had two of Boston's 14 hits for his fifth multihit game in a row. He also had an RBI groundout in the 11th to make it 9-8, but Bailey got Dustin Pedroia on a harmless fly ball to left.

Clay Buchholz, who has been sought after in trade talks, got into trouble in three of the first four innings. But he left with a 5-2 lead, but the Boston bullpen -- which hadn't allowed a run since the All-Star break -- blew it.

Ramon Ramirez gave up one run, Hideki Okajima another and Papelbon allowed three in the ninth -- two earned -- to force the game into extra innings tied 7-7.

The last-minute outburst rescued Vin Mazzaro from an eighth loss in his last nine starts.

Boston led 5-2 after three, 6-2 after six and 7-4 at the end of eight innings. Papelbon came in to pitch the ninth, but Cust drew a leadoff walk and scored on Tommy Everidge's first major-league hit -- a double high off the Green Monster.

Ellis reached on an infield single that scored Everidge and took second on Green's first throwing error. Ellis stole third and scored on Rajai Davis' infield single; he went all the way to third on another error by Green.

Papelbon struck out Kennedy to end the inning and send the game into extras.

NOTES: A's manager Bob Geren was ejected for yelling something from the dugout in the five-run third. ... The A's placed INF Daric Barton on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring and recalled Everidge from Triple-A Sacramento. Everidge made his major-league debut. ... David Ortiz is expected to get the day off on Wednesday, when the A's will pitch lefty Brett Anderson. Adam LaRoche pinch hit for Ortiz in the seventh inning.

[Associated Press; By JIMMY GOLEN]

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