The Tampa Bay Rays rallied for five runs in the seventh inning on Thursday night, and finished off a four game sweep by defeating the Boston Red Sox 5-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Kutter Krawford was rolling along in his first 6.0 innings on the mound for Boston allowing no runs on just three hits. The Sox had a 3-0 lead thanks to a solo homerun by Rafael Devers in the fourth, and scoring two in the sixth on a wild pitch and an RBI double to left centerfield by Xander Bogaerts. Things fell apart for Crawford in that seventh inning. Jonathan Aranda led off with a double, Christian Bethancourt singled, and Josh Lowe sliced it to 3-1 with an RBI double to right ending the night on the hill for the right hander. John Schreiber came on to pitch and surrendered a two-run single to Taylor Walls to tie the score with still noone out that ended the book on Crawford. Luke Raley was then hit by a pitch, and Brett Phillips laid down a sacrifice bunt to push the runners to second and third with one down. Yandy Diaz, who has killed Boston pitching all season so far, came through by bouncing the game winning two-run single past Jeter Downs and the drawn-in infield at second base for a 5-3 advantage. The Red Sox had a great opportunity in the ninth against Tampa reliever Jalen Beeks. Bogaerts led off with a single, and would score when Alex Verdugo followed with an RBI double to right. Christian Vazquez popped out to the catcher in foul territory for the first out, before Kevin Plawecki drew a walk to put two runners on. Bobby Dalbec replaced Jackie Bradley Jr. as a pinch hitter and struckout swinging, and then Downs grounded out to shortstop to end the game as the Rays held on and have now won eight of 10 meetings with Boston this season.
Schreiber (2-1) took the loss and was charged with his first blown save. Crawford ended up being charged with three runs on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts in 6+ innings. Darwinzon Hernandez pitched a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts in his return to the club. Devers and Bogaerts had two hits each. Ji-Man Choi, Aranda, and Walls each had two hits for Tampa Bay who goes to 49-40 on the season. Drew Rasmussen went the first 6.0 innings on the hill allowing three runs on four hits in a no-decision. Tommy Romero (1-0) picked up the victory in relief, with Beeks getting his first save of the year. Seattle (48-42) has won 11 straight and currently holds the second American League wildcard playoff spot, 1.5 games behind Tampa. Boston and Toronto are tied in that third and final wildcard at 47-43, 1.0 behind the Mariners, 2.5 behind the Rays, and 1.5 games ahead of Baltimore who will enter play Friday red hot as well with a 10 game win streak. The Red Sox end the first half of the season with three games in the Bronx with the New York Yankees beginning Friday night at 7:05. Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 3.16 ERA) will come off the IL to start game one, and will be opposed by left hander Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 3.19) for New York.
