Matt Andriese pitched into the sixth, and the Tampa Bay Rays scored eight times in the ninth inning to finish off a series win over the Boston Red Sox with a 11-2 victory Sunday at Fenway Park.
On a cold blustery day in Boston, the offense went back and forth early. Corey Dickerson tripled with one-out in the first off starter Drew Pomeranz, his first of four hits on the afternoon. Evan Longoria then brought him in with a sacriifice fly.
Boston quickly evened the game in the bottom of the first as Andriese walked Mookie Betts to start the inning. Betts then stole second and took third on a groundout by Dustin Pedroia before scoring on a double by Xander Bogaerts.
A sacrifice fly from Jesus Sucre in the second, his first of three RBI on the afternoon, brought in Brad Miller, who walked and moved up on a walk to Tim Beckham and sacrifice bunt by Kiermaier, broke the tie and gave Tampa Bay the lead for good.
The Rays added on in the fourth thanks to a wind-aided ground-rule double by Kiermaier, followed by an RBI single by Sucre off the wall in left to make it 3-1.
Boston cut the lead back to 3-2 in the fifth on an RBI single by Pedroia, but Andriese (3-1) was able to get through the inning with the lead, and even started the sixth, though he needed Erasmo Ramirez to help finish the inning.
Tampa Bay added on in the seventh with an RBI single to get some insurance before busting the game wide open in the ninth. Dickerson and Longoria started with base hits and Rickie Weeks Jr. delivered the fifth run two batters later with a base hit. Brad Miller flew out to center, and John Farrell decided to bring in Heath Hembree and Tampa Bay responded with five straight hits. Beckham singled in Longoria for a 6-2 lead, Kiermaier made it 7-2 with a base hit of his own, Sucre's single pushed the lead to 8-2, and Steven Souza Jr. launched a three-run homer over the wall in left, his fifth home run of the season, to set the score at 11-2.
The win not only gives Tampa Bay the series victory, but also gets the Rays back to two games under .500 at 19-21.
The Rays next head to Cleveland to start a series with the Cleveland Indians. Chris Archer (3-1, 3.04 ERA) will get the start in Monday's opener, taking on Carlos Carrasco (4-2, 1.86 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:10, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 5:00 with The Inside Pitch, presented by Sykes Lakeland.