The Rays (6-8) fell to the Red Sox (8-5) 4-3 for their third straight loss on Monday in Boston. The series loss to the Red Sox completed a 1-6 opening road trip for the Rays.
Playing in the annual Patriots Day matchup that had an unusual 11 AM Eastern Time start, the game started strong for the Rays. Tampa Bay opened the first inning with three straight singles to load the bases with no out. Groundouts from Brad Miller and Steven Souza Jr, consecutively, got two runs across and the Rays enjoyed a 2-0 lead before Boston had the chance to touch the bat.
However, Boston wasted little time in answering. After getting a pair of base runners in the bottom of the first inning, Hanley Ramirez drove in Dustin Pedrioa to cut within 2-1. The second inning is where Boston came alive, capitalizing on a Brad Miller error at second base with two outs. Instead of being out of the inning with a one run lead, the Rays allowed three unearned runs off the bats of Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts and the Red Sox had a 4-2 lead.
From there Steven Wright (1-1, 8.36) settled down for Boston. The knuckleballer who struggled through the first inning allowed a hit to Tim Beckham to lead off the seventh inning which would come around to score and that would be all the offense of the day for the Rays. Wright finished the game with six innings pitched, allowing nine hits and only one earned run (three total) while striking out four and walking one. Robbie Ross Jr, Ben Taylor, and Heath Hembree contributed scoreless baseball out of the bullpen to set up Craig Kimbrell, who picked up his sixth save to clinch the victory.
Blake Snell (0-2, 2.76) struggled immediately following his teammates error but finished the game with five innings pitched, allowing four runs but only one of them earned, while striking out five and walking two. Tommy Hunter and Chase Whitley contributed three scoreless innings from the Rays bullpen.
The Rays now return to Tampa Bay and begin a three game series with the Tigers on Tuesday night. First pitch from Tropicana Field is set for 7:10 – you can hear it all, beginning with The Inside Pitch at 6, on 620 WDAE & 95.3 FM.
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