Red Sox Close In on the Playoffs

BOSTON —  Pete Schourek had pitched well in most of his previous six starts with the Boston Red Sox but was winless. On Tuesday night, he found out why.

“Just give me 10 runs, I’ll take my chances,” he said after the Red Sox closed in on the American League wild-card berth with a 11-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

With the victory, the Red Sox remained 3 1/2 games ahead of Toronto. They can clinch the wild-card berth tonight with a victory and a Blue Jay loss.

The score was 10-2 when Schourek finished his eight innings of work. In his other six starts since being acquired from Houston on Aug. 6, the Red Sox had totaled only 20 runs and had lost five of them.

“It’s hard to feel you’re a contributor when you lose every game you’re in,” said Schourek (1-3), who had his longest outing since Sept. 23, 1995. “I didn’t know how much patience they’d have with me. I needed to turn it on.”

So did Boston’s hitters, who had produced only 14 runs in the previous four games--three of which were losses.

“We’re focused in on what we’ve got to do to win some more ballgames,” said Darren Bragg, who matched his season-high three RBIs. “Nothing’s over.”

Schourek gave up six hits and no walks and struck out five in his first career start against Tampa Bay, which entered the game batting .368 in September.

“Having the runs didn’t hurt,” said Tampa Bay Manager Larry Rothschild, Florida’s pitching coach the past three years when Schourek was in the National League. “He made some pitches away, and his change-up was good.”

The Red Sox entered the game hitting .237 in September but pounded five pitchers for 11 hits, five for extra bases. Julio Santana (5-6) gave up six runs in 2 1/3 innings as he failed to get out of the sixth inning for the fourth consecutive start.