Luis Patino only allowed one run over 5.2 innings Monday night, and Brandon Lowe had two hits and two RBI as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 at Tropicana Field in the opener of a four game series.
Tampa Bay (83-48) immediately took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Lowe led off and blasted the first pitch from Nick Pivetta over the fence in centerfield for a homerun. Bobby Dalbec knocked in the only run of the night for Boston when he hit a solo homer to left with one out in the top of the second to tie it at 1-1. Austin Meadows provided the game winner with an RBI single in the third. The Rays added on when Lowe had an infield RBI single in the fourth, Kevin Kiermaier scored an error by Rafeal Devers in the sixth, and Wander Franco slapped a two-run single to left in the eighth that finished the scoring. Franco with his hit in the eighth extended his on base streak to 30 games. Tampa has now won eight straight games, and are 19-4 in their last 23.
Pivetta (9-7) took the loss allowing four runs on six hits with five walks and six strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Alex Verdugo had two hits, as Boston drops to 75-58. Patino (4-3) allowed just the one run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts to pick up the win on the mound. Kiermaier also had two hits along with Lowe. Game two of the series in at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday night. Neither team has yet to announce a starting pitcher. The list of players effected by COVID-19 and are currently on the COVID IL for the Red Sox include Kike Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, along with two more added in Matt Barnes and Josh Taylor. Two coaches are also out in quarantine.
