The Tampa Bay Rays hit three two-run homeruns on Wednesday night, ending a seven game losing streak with an 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
After putting up nine runs in an extra inning win on Tuesday night in the series opener, left handed starting pitcher Rich Hill shut down the Boston bats over a good 5.0 inning performance. Xander Bogaerts gave the Sox an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the first inning, but Austin Meadows answered with a two-run homer in the bottom half to give Tampa Bay the lead for good. Mike Zunino and Brandon Lowe had the other two-run homers for the Rays.
Garrett Richards (4-5) took the pitching loss allowing four runs on three hits in just 1.2 innings. Meadows and Lowe had two hits each in the win, and Hill (6-2) allowed just one run on three hits in 5.0 innings. Boston (44-30) and Tampa Bay (44-31) meet in the rubber game on Thursday night. The Sox send RHP Nick Pivetta (6-3, 4.36 ERA) to the mound against Michael Wacha (1-2, 5.19) for the Rays.
