Beckett has an off night and the Red Sox sluggers fall short in 5-4 loss to Baltimore

The key plays in this game were the three run home run that Josh Beckett gave up to Luke Scott in the second, Manny Ramirez grounding into a double play with no outs and the bases loaded in the seventh and David Ortiz check swing strikeout in the ninth.

Josh Beckett didn't have his best stuff tonight as he gave up 5 runs on eleven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Manny Delcarmen threw an inning and a third of scoreless ball with David Aardsma didn't allow a run in an inning pitched.

Baltimore's Luke Scott was the star of the game going 3 for 4 with a three run home run in the second inning that was the turning point of the game.

The Orioles Mark Guthrie out pitched Josh Beckett going 6 innings, giving up just two earned runs and striking out 7.

The story besides Beckett's off night was the Red sox offense not taking advantage of the many chances that they had to score. The big chance was in the seventh inning when the Red Sox failed to score after having the bases loaded with no outs.

Another chance was in the ninth inning when David Ortiz should have walked to start the inning but couldn't hold up on a check swing and struck out. Manny Ramirez flew out after working a 3-1 count and Mike Lowell struck out to end the game.

It was another bad outing by a Red Sox starter and the offense couldn't overcome it. It was a weird game all around with Kevin Youkilis playing right field and Brad Mills managing, Jacoby Ellsbury not starting then playing left field then moving over to center and Big Papi getting thrown out of the game after he argued his ninth inning strikeout.

Brad Mills managed because Terry Francona is with his family until Friday's game after the passing of his mother in law. Kevin Youkilis ended playing rightfield because JD Drew sprained his left wrist diving for a ball. Jacoby Ellsbury replaced him in right but Coco Crisp came down with an upset stomach so Ellsbury moved to center, Youkilis took over right and Sean Casey came in to play first.

It was the third loss in a row for the Red Sox and they wrap up their road trip tomorrow afternoon with Jon Lester going against Daniel Cabrera. The Red Sox fell to second place with the Rays win over the Yankees.