01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 19, 2006

BOSTON -- David Ortiz is used to seeing shifts.

But what the Devil Rays did last night when the Red Sox' slugging designated hitter came to the plate with two outs and nobody on in the first inning was almost unprecedented.

There were no Devil Rays on the left side of the infield. Not one.

Tampa Bay used four outfielders -- all playing deep. While the left fielder, center fielder and right fielder were all swung around toward right, accounting for Ortiz's ability to pull the ball, third baseman Ty Wigginton moved out to deep left, a few feet shy of the warning track.

The infield was swung around and deep, too, stationed in the outfield as well.

Shortstop Tomas Perez was on the second-base side of the bag, about 10 feet behind the infield dirt, on the outfield grass. Second baseman Jorge Cantu was playing in the hole on that side of the infield, but 30 feet back on the outfield grass. First baseman Travis Lee was playing a normal deep first.

So the open left side of the infield was staring at Ortiz, the Devil Rays daring (and possibly hoping) that Ortiz would foil the shift by dropping the ball down for a bunt single. Tampa Bay would rather give Ortiz a single, or even a bunt double, than risk a home run. Ortiz already has six.

Such a shift can also mess with a hitter's head, which no doubt also was part of the Devil Rays' strategy.

Tampa Bay pitcher Casey Fossum, meanwhile, fed Ortiz nothing but changeups and slow curveballs, eventually retiring him on a weak bouncer to Perez, to the right of second base.

Again batting with two out and nobody on in the third, Ortiz went over the shift, cracking an 0-and-2 breaking pitch for a double high off the wall in left-center.

When Ortiz batted in the fifth, there was a runner at first and one out, so the Devil Rays abandoned their shift and went with the standard variety, the third baseman playing shortstop, the shortstop on the second-base side of the bag and the second baseman swung into the hole, but still on the infield dirt. Ortiz hit a soft liner to right for an out.

Ortiz also doubled to left against the conventional shift in the seventh and whiffed in the eighth.

Gamble pays off

Was it a good play or an ill-advised gamble?

In the end, it doesn't matter, because rookie center fielder Adam Stern was able to hang onto the ball with a diving catch to end the game with the bases loaded and two outs.

Had the ball gotten past Stern, it would have rolled to the center-field wall and all three Tampa Bay baserunners would have scored, tying the game. But as soon as the ball left Damon Hollins' bat, Stern charged in hard.

He gloved the ball a split-second before the ball hit the grass, and managed to keep the ball in his glove in a snow cone as he rolled over and showed the umpires he had it.

"I committed to it when it came off the bat. It was like poker, all in," said Stern. "The ball kept dying on me. I didn't know what was going on.

"But that's the way I play," he said. "Thank goodness I caught it or the ball's going to the wall and I'm answering other kinds of questions. If I missed it, I would have just taken it to the house, kept on going, take a cab back (to his apartment) and don't even shower."

Trot Nixon, who was racing to back up Stern had the ball bounced past the diving outfielder, applauded Stern's effort and execution.

"A lot of times we play on instinct," said Nixon. "If you're going to play it safe, then just have him leaning up against the wall. Instincts take over. Go after it."

One of those things

Kevin Youkilis got caught in no-man's land -- and it cost Mark Loretta a hit in the seventh.

With runners at first and third and one out, Loretta laced a shot toward right. Second baseman Jorge Cantu leaped for the ball. Youkilis, running at first, thought Cantu was going to catch the ball so he started back to first base, not wanting to be trapped off for an inning-ending double play.

Cantu, though, couldn't catch the ball. It sizzled its way to right fielder Russell Branyan on one hop. Seeing the ball drop, Youkilis reversed his field and dashed toward second. Branyon quickly fired the ball to Perez, covering second base, before Youkilis could get there. It wasn't bad baserunning on Youkilis' part, just one of those things.

So Loretta lost his hit, the play a forceout, albeit of the unusual 9-6 variety in the scorebook. But Loretta still was credited with an RBI, as Wily Mo Pena scored from third base.

Not half bad

The Red Sox went 1 for 2 on sacrifices.

Alex Gonzalez dropped down a beauty, moving the tying run to second in Boston's three-run seventh inning.

But Adam Stern was done in by the "wheel play" in failing to move up the runners from first and second with none out in a tie game in the eighth. Third baseman Ty Wigginton charged Stern's bunt down the line instead of holding his ground and letting the pitcher cover that territory.

As a result, Wigginton turned and threw to Perez, covering third base, for the first out of the inning, seemingly blunting the Sox' chances at snapping a 4-4 tie.

Youkilis, though, took Stern off the hook, crushing a two-out, two-run double to the wall at the 379-foot marker.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340