Both the Boston Celtics and Boston Red Sox were back in action on Tuesday night, as both were in the state of Florida for matchups with the Miami Heat and Tampa Bay Rays respectively.
At the Walt Disney World Resort and the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson each had 21 points as the Miami Heat got past the Boston Celtics 112-106.
Miami (43-25) led from start to finish in this one, leading by as many as 16 in the first half. Boston (44-23) got within one point in the third quarter off a nice alley-oop pass from Jayson Tatum for a dunk by Daniel Theis, but they got no closer. The Heat would increase the lead back to 13 late in the third, and the green could never recover losing for the second time in three games since play resumed last week.
Tatum led Boston in the loss with 23 points and seven rebounds. Jaylen Brown had a double double with 18 points and 10 boards, while Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward had 15 points each, Theis had 11 points, and Enes Kanter chipped in 10. Adebayo added 12 rebounds to his point total for a double double in the Miami win. Goran Dragic added 20 points, while former Celtic Kelly Olynyk had 15 points, six rebounds, and eight assists, and Tyler Herro also got into double digits with 11 points. The Heat move within 1.5 games of the Celtics for the number three Eastern Conference seed with five regular season games remaining. Boston will be back at it Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets.
At Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida the Boston Red Sox got sent to their fourth straight loss and eighth in 11 games to start the season as they fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1.
Mitch Moreland gave the Sox their only run and only lead of the night when he hit a solo homerun off Rays starter Charlie Morton in the top of the second inning. Hunter Renfroe hit a two run double in the fourth for Tampa Bay off Nathan Eovaldi that proved to be the game winner. The hosts padded the lead in the fifth on an RBI triple by Austin Meadows, and an RBI single by Brandon Lowe to make it 4-1. Ji-Man Choi added a sacrifice fly for an RBI in the seventh that finished the scoring. Boston (3-8) had their final threat in the eighth inning with two men on and one out, but JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts both struck out swinging.
Eovaldi (1-1) took the loss on the hill allowing four runs on six hits with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Phillips Valdez, Josh Osich, Ryan Brasier, and Jeffrey Springs combined to only allow one run on three hits the rest of the way but the offense couldn’t pick it up. Martinez led the way with two hits on the night. Morton (1-1) picked up the win for 5-6 Tampa Bay allowing one run on five hits with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Nick Anderson got his second save, as the Rays bullpen was very good allowing no runs on three hits with five strikeouts in 4.1 innings of relief. Joey Wendle had three hits, while Meadows and Lowe added two each.
The Sox will look again to break the losing streak at 6:40 Wednesday evening against the Rays. A pair of left handers are scheduled to toe the rubber, as Boston goes with Martin Perez and Tampa sends out Ryan Yarborough.
