With the last place Baltimore Orioles coming to town this weekend, the Boston Red Sox were hoping to slice the Tampa Bay Rays lead in the A.L. East to three games on Thursday evening. But it wasn’t meant to be. Wander Franco hit a game winning two-run homerun, and Tampa Bay scored four more runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-1 win at Fenway Park.
After a 20 run and 19 hit explosion on Wednesday night, Boston (66-51) was held to just two hits as the visiting Rays took the rubber match of the three game series. Brandon Lowe gave the guests the lead in the third inning with a sacrifice fly, before Rafael Devers tied it with an RBI double to center that scored Kike Hernandez in the fourth. Lowe led off the sixth with a single, and then Franco hit his fifth homer of the season that made it 3-1. Nelson Cruz followed with a double that ended the day for Sox starter Tanner Houck, and later another run came across in the frame on a balk by Hansel Robles. Tampa (70-45) added on with a Manuel Margot sacrifice fly and a three-run homer by Mike Zunino in the eighth to push the division lead back to five games.
Devers and Kevin Plawecki had the lone Boston hits, and Houck (0-3) took the loss allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Tampa Bay got 4.0 solid innings from their opener Drew Rasmussen allowing just one run on one hit, and Colin McHugh (4-1) picked up the victory pitching the fifth and sixth innings. Kevin Kiermaier had three hits. Nick Pivetta (8-5, 4.34 ERA) will take the ball for the Sox in game one against the O’s Friday night. Baltimore counters with Spenser Watkins (2-3, 4.22).
