The Boston Red Sox found themselves on the wrong end of a back-and-forth affair Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Sox 6-5 in the opener of a three-game set in a contest that involved 24 combined hits and used 14 total pitchers.
The Red Sox fall to 59-49 with the loss, while the Rays move to 61-48.
Here’s how it went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Seesaw
This one was all over the place.
ON THE BUMP
— Price was scoreless through two innings, but the Rays got to the southpaw in the third.
Matt Duffy stroked a one-out double to left to put a baserunner in scoring position for Austin Meadows. The 24-year-old outfielder smoked a triple down the right field line to score Duffy, cutting Boston’s lead in half.
Price got into a major jam in the fourth, loading the bases with one out, but the left-hander pitched his way out of it, striking out the side without allowing any runs. He had eight strikeouts through four innings.
Travis d’Arnaud led off the fifth by drilling a belt-high two-seam fastball 453 feet for his 12th home run of the year, making it 3-2. Avisail Garcia collected a solo shot of his own later in the inning to tie the game. A single and a double made it three consecutive hits for Tampa Bay, ultimately ending Price’s evening.
After what looked to be a promising outing, Price’s night took a sharp turn for the worse. The lefty gave up nine hits and four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched. He did finish with nine strikeouts.
— Marcus Walden entered in relief of Price with runners on second and third. Eric Sogard would ground out to second to drive in the Rays’ fourth run of the night to give Tampa Bay the lead. The right-hander then retired Guillermo Heredia to end the inning.
Walden returned for the sixth, inducing back-to-back groundouts to begin the frame. But a walk to d’Arnaud would make Alex Cora call to the bullpen.
— Josh Taylor came in and faced one batter, giving up a base hit to Meadows before getting pulled.
— Colten Brewer was welcomed into the game by a two-run double from Garcia in the sixth, which gave Tampa Bay the lead right back.
— Darwinzon Hernandez retired the side in order in the seventh, striking out two.
— Nathan Eovaldi pitched the eighth and worked out of a bit of a jam without any damage.
— Matt Barnes threw a scoreless ninth inning.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston struck for two right off the bat in the first inning.
After Mookie Betts walked to lead off the frame, a J.D. Martinez single and Andrew Benintendi walk would load the bases for Mitch Moreland. The first-baseman made Charlie Morton pay, driving in a two-run single to put Boston up 2-0.
— The Red Sox got another in the third, starting with back-to-back singles from Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts to begin the inning. Benintendi would single to right to drive in Boston’s third run of the night. Morton induced a double play to escape without any further damage.
— Benintendi put the Red Sox back on top in fifth with a two-run bomb, his 11th of the season.
— Sam Travis led off the eighth with a double off the Green Monster. A Brock Holt walk and single from Betts would load the bases for Devers with two outs and the Sox trailing 6-5, but the third baseman flew out to left to end the inning.
— The Red Sox had men on the corners with two down in the ninth, but Christian Vazquez wasn’t able to get the job done, popping out to left.
— Devers and Benintendi led the way for the offense, collecting three hits apiece.
— Travis replaced Moreland and grabbed two hits in his two at-bats.
— Boston left 11 men on base.
TWEET OF THE DAY
The bats are hot.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Rays meet for Game 2 at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.
