A lot of little things and several wasted chances end up meaning a whole lot as Boston falls to Tampa Bay in extra innings.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 26, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- It's called the "no-doubles defense."

In the alignment, usually employed late in the game, the outfielders are positioned deeper than normal, so as not to give up a ball over their head. That way, they can keep everything in front of them, holding the batter to a single and keeping a runner from scoring from first on the hit.

In theory, that is.

But Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff foiled Boston's strategy last night, lacing a double over the head of right fielder Trot Nixon. That hit, which took a carom past Nixon, who was pinned in too close to the wall to react, delivered Jorge Cantu from first base with two outs in the 10th inning, giving the Devil Rays a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox.

Curt Schilling was tagged with the loss in Boston's first extra-inning game of the year in their 99th game of the season.

There were some other circumstances and plays that didn't go Boston's way last night. Shortstop Edgar Renteria couldn't get a ball out of his glove, leading to an infield hit that turned into a run. Kevin Millar couldn't make a scoop at first. Mike Timlin couldn't strand inherited runners.

Rookie Adam Stern got trapped off third base, though it wasn't as bad a play as it may have looked. Nixon, running from second base in the 10th, couldn't get out of the way of John Olerud's bullet, erasing himself from the basepaths while Olerud was credited with a single.

And starting pitcher David Wells lamented his final pitch, a flat, slide-step sinker that stayed up and was smacked to right for a single by Nick Green,

The game ended with the Red Sox trudging off the field while the Devil Rays were celebrating a dramatic win, much to the dismay of the largely partisan Boston crowd at Tropicana Field.

It was Tampa Bay's fourth victory in a row, tying a season-best.

For the Sox, meanwhile, it was their second straight loss, dropping them to 2-3 on this trip and into a loss-column tie with the New York Yankees in the American League East, though Boston still leads by one game.

"Close games, these are the ones you need to win and we haven't won as many as we should," said Wells, who was charged with three runs in 6 1/3 innings.

They haven't lost many like they did last night, though. Nixon tried to run down Huff's laser, but just couldn't get there.

"If it's ordinary defense, it's a no-brainer double," said manager Terry Francona, noting that in that case Cantu wouldn't have scored.

"But once the ball is over your head, you've got to try to catch it. He did a good job of positioning himself. He was where he was supposed to be. He couldn't get the play made, but I'd rather he go after the ball. He just got caught in-between," said Francona.

Francona also said that because of the odd carom the ball took off the fence, it might have eluded Nixon even if he had tried to pull up and play it off the wall.

Schilling, meanwhile, was surprised by the game-ending play.

"In that situation, playing no doubles, I didn't it would end the game," said Schilling, who had thrown 1 2/3 solid innings (two whiffs) before Huff's hit.

"But he hit it well, a lot better than I thought he did. It was a sinker. It wasn't up that much, but you look at his swing, he dropped the head (of the bat) to the ball. Aubrey's such a good hitter," said Schilling.

The right-hander was more upset with himself for not turning Cantu's attempted sacrifice bunt into a double play after Carl Crawford's leadoff infield single. After fielding the ball, Schilling's throw to second was wide, with Renteria barely able to catch it and keep his foot on the bag for one out.

"We went from turning a double play to being lucky to get an out because of my play. That hurts late in a game," said Schilling.

Other things hurt, too.

The Sox failed to score despite having first and third with one out in the ninth, with Stern trapped off third on Renteria's hot shot to the mound. He kept the Sox out of a possible double play, though Johnny Damon was running from first, but Manny Ramirez flied out with the bases filled.

Indeed, that wasted chance might not have hurt as much had Red Sox executed better in the seventh.

But Millar's inability to make a scoop at first base and Timlin's continued largesse with inherited runners cost the Red Sox the tying run in the inning, only minutes after Damon's two-run homer high off the right-field foul pole in the top of the seventh had provided Boston with a 3-2 advantage.

With one out, the Rays' Toby Hall hit a chopper up the middle. Renteria ranged far to his left, gloved the ball and made an off-balance throw to first that easily beat Hall.

But the ball bounced in front of Millar, who was unable to cleanly pick it. So Hall reached, and after one pitch to Nick Green, he was replaced by speedy Joey Gathright, who stopped at second on Green's single to right.

That was it for Wells, who was throwing an efficient game. Despite having thrown only 88 pitches, Francona opted to lift the left-hander and have Timlin face Julio Lugo, who was 2-for-3 against Wells.

The move quickly backfired.

Lugo ripped a single to right and Gathright sped around third and raced home with the run that knotted the game at 3-3. Timlin retired the next two hitters, but for the season, the right-hander has inherited 21 baserunners, and 13 have scored, an abysmal statistic for the reliever, who was not charged with a run in his 1 2/3 innings, lowering his earned-run average to 1.44.

In short, it was just a night where things didn't go the Red Sox' way.