Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Tampa Bay 7, Boston 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, May 25, 2012
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 73°
Umpires: Home - Mark Carlson, 1B - Ed Rapuano, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - Chris Conroy
Attendance: 37594

Rays 7, Red Sox 4:
Matt Joyce hit a grand slam - his second in six games - and visiting Tampa Bay took Jon Lester deep three times in a game marred by a bench-clearing incident.

Joyce's blast came with two outs in the third and gave the Rays a 4-1 lead before Elliot Johnson and Carlos Pena delivered back-to-back homers in the fourth to make it 7-1.

The benches and bullpens emptied in the ninth inning after Tampa Bay's Luke Scott was hit by a Franklin Morales pitch. No punches were thrown, but there was plenty of pushing and shoving, most of it involving coaches from both teams. There were no ejections.

Boston native Alex Cobb (2-0) allowed two runs - one earned - three hits and four walks in five innings in his first career start against the Red Sox as Tampa Bay denied Boston a chance to move above .500 for the first time this season.

Four relievers bridged the gap to Fernando Rodney, who pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in as many chances.

Lester (3-4), who had won his last two starts, allowed seven runs and six hits while walking three over four innings in losing his third straight to Tampa Bay.

After Kevin Youkilis' RBI single in the first inning put the Red Sox ahead 1-0, Tampa Bay loaded the bases in the third before Joyce deposited Lester's 3-1 fastball into Boston's bullpen for his fourth career grand slam.

Johnson's two-run shot landed in the Green Monster seats and Pena found the right field stands two pitches later. Pena homered for the second straight game since manager Joe Maddon inserted him into the leadoff spot. He is 3-for-9 with four RBIs in those two contests.

After Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI double in the fifth inning, Marlon Byrd delivered a run-scoring single and Mike Aviles added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 7-4.

The Rays' B.J. Upton went 2-for-5 and is 15-for-34 in his last eight games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Five of Joyce's 53 career homers have come against left-handers. ... Joyce's was only the second grand slam allowed by Lester. Paul Konerko hit the other. ... Tampa Bay leads the majors with four grand slams. Joyce's previous one came in a 5-2 victory over Atlanta on Saturday. ... Lester fell to 10-7 lifetime against the Rays. ... Maddon moved Pena to the top of the lineup in an effort to break his 0-for-18 slide and .116 average in May. ... Pena has six homers in 39 at-bats against Lester. ... Entering Friday, Tampa Bay's ERA was 2.65 at home and 4.65 on the road. ... The Rays committed their American League-worst 42nd error - they had a club record-low 73 in 2011.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay   Boston
Alex Cobb Player Jon Lester
Win W/L Loss
5.0 IP 4.0
2 Strikeouts 4
3 Hits 6
1.80 ERA 15.75
Hitting
Tampa Bay   Boston
Matt JoycePlayer Marlon Byrd
2 Hits 1
4 RBI 1
1 HR 0
5 TB 1
.667 Avg .333
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Tampa Bay 8 3 17 .235 16 8 7 5 1 1
Boston 4 0 5 .133 15 5 4 6 2 1