After three straight losses where Boston struggled to muster much in terms of offense, the bats finally pulled out a win for the Red Sox.
Three home runs led the Sox to a 6-4 win over the American League East Division leading Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night at Tropicana Field. Back-to-back home runs from Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland in the eighth gave Boston the lead for good. Christian Vazquez also homered in the win.
Eduardo Rodriguez was inconsistent, starting and finishing shaky after 5 1/3 innings. He left with a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning. Brandon Workman got the win for the Red Sox, while Diego Castillo took the loss for Tampa. Ryan Brasier recorded his fourth save of the season.
With the win, the Red Sox moved to 7-13, while the Rays fell to 14-6 with the loss.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Gone.
The Red Sox sent their losing streak packing while sending three balls over the wall.
ON THE BUMP
— What was shaping up to be another quality start for Rodriguez fell apart in the sixth inning, as the lefty allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out six and walking one. He threw 94 pitches.
Rodriguez found himself working through traffic right off the bat after walking the leadoff man in the bottom of the first, followed by a single by Tommy Pham. But the lefty battled through, retiring the next three batters with two strikeouts and a fly out.
The Rays got on the board against the lefty with a one-out Brandon Lowe home run that seemingly scraped the back of the wall in the right field corner, with Betts’ effort coming up just short.
After allowing Yandy Diaz to single to lead off the third, Rodriguez struck out the next two batters. But Avisail Garcia laced a two-out RBI triple to make it 2-0.
Diaz knocked a one-out single in the fifth that was negated by a smooth double play started by Rafael Devers, who fielded the ball to his left then threw to second from a knee to make the turn.
Rodriguez’s start came to a disappointing end in the sixth when the lefty allowed Austin Meadows to knock a leadoff single, that was followed by an error by Devers that put runners on first and second. Daniel Robertson followed with a two-run double to left field to tie the game 4-4. Rodriguez hit the next batter, then get a lineout for the first out of the inning before being lifted.
— Brandon Workman inherited a runner on first with one out in the sixth, and induced a ground-ball double play to end the inning on the first batter he faced.
Workman walked Michael Perez to start the seventh, but ended the inning with a double play to avoid trouble. Pham also drew a walk, but was gunned down trying to steal by Vazquez to end the frame.
— Matt Barnes struck out two in a spotless eighth.
— Brasier hit one batter in the ninth, but got out of the inning to earn the save with a game-ending strikeout of Perez.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Sox could not muster much off of “opener” Ryne Stanek, who allowed just one runner (a leadoff walk to Andrew Benintendi to start the game) over his two innings.
— Left-hander Ryan Yarbough came on to shut Boston down in order in the third and fourth innings.
— Boston did not register its first hit until the fifth. After J.D. Martinez walked to start the frame, Devers laced a one-out double into the right center gap that scored Martinez from first.
Vazquez followed that up with a two-run home run to center field to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.
— Boston’s bats stayed hot in the sixth, with Betts leading off with a double down the left field line. He was plated on a Moreland single to right field to make it 4-2.
— Betts and Moreland bopped back-to-back homers in the eighth to put the Sox back in the driver’s seat. Betts drove a ball to dead center for his fourth home run of the season, and Moreland followed with a 411-foot bomb to right center for his sixth of the year.
— Betts, Moreland and Vazquez all finished with two hits. Martinez, Bogaerts, Devers and Tzu-Wei Lin also notched hits.
— Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. went hitless.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Still handing out rings.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will play the second game of their three-game stand against the Rays on Saturday. First pitch from Tropicana Field is slated for 6:10 p.m. ET.
