Boston Red Sox utility man Brock Holt waits in right field for a pitch by David Price during game two of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Photo by Chris Lessner (click to enlarge)
BOSTON, Mass- The Boston Red Sox played a day night doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at Fenway Park. Travis d’Arnaud had three RBI backing a strong pitching performance from Ryan Yarborough in the opener for a 9-2 Tampa win, while David Price pitched solidly in the nightcap to help Boston to the split with a 5-1 win.
In the opener, Tampa got four second inning runs to build the lead off Boston rookie starter Josh Smith who was making only his second major league start. d’Arnaud started the scoring with a long three run homer to left, and Brandon Lowe added an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Sam Travis got the Sox on the board with an RBI single in the second to cut it to 4-1, but that wasn’t gonna be quite enough as the Rays would pad the lead with six more hits and four more runs in the ninth. Jackie Bradley Jr. knocked in the other Boston run with a solo homer in the eighth.
Michael Chavis had two hits for Boston, and Smith (0-2) allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings on the hill. Austin Meadows, Lowe, Ji-Man Choi, Yanny Diaz, and d’Arnaud had two hits a piece as part of a Tampa Bay 13 hit attack. Yarbrough (5-2) only allowed one earned run on four hits, along with no walks and seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings.
In the nightcap, Chavis had a two run double that ended up as the game winner in the third inning to back another strong start from Price in a 5-1 Boston win.
In a bullpen game for Tampa, Ryan Stanek started on the hill and went the first 1.1 innings without giving up a run. With still no score in the third, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi both singled to start things off Rays rookie Collin Poche who was making his first ever MLB appearance. Poche though would strike out both Xander Bogaerts and Rafeal Devers before being replaced by Austin Pruitt. Chavis on the first pitch from Pruitt would double off the left center field wall to score Betts and Benintendi to make it 2-0.
Guillermo Heredia knocked in the only Tampa run with an RBI single in the fifth to cut it to 2-1, before Bogaerts hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to score Betts. The Rays had a good chance to creep back into the game down 3-1 with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth, but Price retired his final batter of the night getting Kevin Kiermaier with a popup to shortstop to end the threat. Boston then with the bases loaded in their half of the sixth got a Marco Hernandez double off the left field wall to score two and end the scoring.
Betts had a two hit night to lead Boston. Price (4-2) allowed only one run, five hits, with two walks, along with 10 strikeouts in 6.0 innings. He threw 103 pitches, 64 for strikes. The 10 strikeouts in the game is the second time this season he has done that, while he only had two 10 or more strikeout games in all of 2018 (30 starts). Brandon Workman, Marcus Walden, and Matt Barnes pitched three innings of no run and one hit ball out of the bullpen with four strikeouts. Poche (0-1) suffered the loss in relief in his debut allowing two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings. Six different Tampa batters had base hits in the loss. The Rays are in a first place tie with the Yankees at 39-24, while the Sox sit six games back at 34-31.
The two teams will finish off a four game series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05. A pair of lefties are scheduled to pitch, as Boston sends Eduardo Rodriguez to the bump to be opposed by Tampas Blake Snell.
Mookie Betts leads off second base during game two of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Photo by Chris Lessner (click to enlarge)
