from yuma he came

Joey Gathright scored his first major league run in some two years on Thursday night. The Hattiesburg native, once called the fastest man in baseball, is back in The Show with Boston, which plucked him from Yuma in the independent North American League at the end of August. He played a handful of games at Triple-A Pawtucket before Boston recalled him on Tuesday. Alas, Gathright could not help the Red Sox avoid losing to Tampa Bay and seeing their lead in the American League wild card chase drop to 3 games over the resurgent Rays. Gathright, 30, who was hitting .347 with 20 steals for Jose Canseco’s Yuma Scorpions, might yet aid the BoSox cause with his ability to run. The former 32nd-round pick — by Tampa Bay, coincidentally — had 80 stolen bases over his first 445 games in the big leagues and stole 21 bags for Kansas City in 2008, when he was playing somewhat regularly. He was with Boston in 2009. “It was fun getting back around organized baseball,” Gathright told BostonHerald.com after his call-up. “Yuma was fun, but it was independent ball, so having things done the right way and ready to go when you get to the field (was different).”
P.S. Meridian Community College alumnus Cliff Lee allowed one run — a ninth-inning homer — against Florida on Thursday and wound up with a no-decision for Philadelphia, which won the game in the 10th. The remarkable Lee (16-7, 2.38 for the season) has a 0.56 ERA over his last eight starts. … Pablo Sandoval’s cycle on Thursday was the first for a San Francisco player since Fred Lewis, the pride of Wiggins, did it as a rookie in 2007. Lewis, who finished this season in the minors with Cincinnati, hit his first big league homer as part of his cycle.