With David Price on the mound and Tuesday’s bounce-back win under their belts, the Boston Red Sox appeared poised to end their road trip on a high note in Wednesday’s matinee contest.
Alas, that’s why you play the games.
The Tampa Bay Rays tagged Price for four runs — all over the first three innings — and Rays starter Matt Moore stifled Boston’s bats to hand the Red Sox a 4-0 loss at Tropicana Field to take the rubber game of the three-game series.
The defeat dropped the Red Sox to 2-4 on their six-game road trip, and they now sit just six games over .500 at 42-36.
Here’s how things unfolded at the Trop.
GAME IN A WORD
Underwhelming.
Price didn’t live up to expectations on the mound in another difficult outing, and neither did the Red Sox’s offense, which managed five hits all day and put just three runners in scoring position.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
The Rays tagged Price for three runs during a four-hit flurry in the third.
The Red Sox lefty responded by striking out the next four batters he faced, but the damage already was done, as Boston’s bats couldn’t climb out of the 4-0 hole that Price dug them.
ON THE BUMP
— Price struggled early in a strange but disappointing appearance for the Red Sox ace. He surrendered all four of his earned runs in the first three innings, giving up a solo homer to Brandon Guyer in the second and three runs on four hits in the third.
The left-hander did record 10 strikeouts while walking just one, at one point striking out four Rays batters in a row. But Price exited with one out in the seventh and finished with a final line of four earned runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.
— Heath Hembree came on to retire the final two batters of the seventh inning, then struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 eighth. The right-hander didn’t allow a baserunner in 1 2/3 innings of work.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Moore took a no-hitter into the sixth inning until Christian Vazquez led off the frame with a single.
— Boston squandered a golden opportunity in that inning after loading the bases with one out after three hits. David Ortiz popped out to third and Hanley Ramirez flied out to right to end the threat.
— Jackie Bradley Jr. reached base with a walk in the fifth but made a bad mistake on the bases, getting caught stealing at third base for the inning’s final out. He went 0-for-3.
— Dustin Pedroia was the only Red Sox player to reach base twice, going 1-for-4 with a single and reaching on an error in the first.
— Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-4 and struck out three times in his return to the Red Sox’s lineup.
— Ramirez snapped a seven-game hitting streak with an 0-for-3Â showing. He appeared to tweak his back on a swing-and-miss in the sixth inning and was replaced in the eighth by Marco Hernandez, who shifted to third base while Travis shaw took over at first.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Price’s difficult season continues.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox have Thursday off before returning to Fenway Park for a nine-game homestand that begins Friday against the Los Angeles Angels. Knuckleballer Steven Wright will take the mound in that contest, which is set to begin at 7:10 p.m. ET.
