In a game where starting pitcher Mártin Pérez went toe-to-toe with Tyler Glasnow for five innings, and Christian Vázquez tied things up in the ninth inning, it was J.D. Martinez who was the hero.
Martinez lifted the Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday as his two-RBI, walk-off double scored Hunter Renfroe and Alex Verdugo in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Glasnow, the Rays starter, went six innings and gave up just four hits with nine strikeouts, but Boston got going after his day was done.
The Red Sox improve to 2-3 on the season and will have one more shot against the Rays on Wednesday as they try to sweep the series.
Here’s how it all went down Tuesday between Boston and Tampa Bay:
ON THE BUMP
— Pérez got his first start of the season and gave it a solid go through the first five innings, but didn’t get much help from the offense. He came back out for the sixth, but after the left-hander walked Brandon Lowe, Red Sox manager Alex Cora met him on the mound.
Pérez gave up five hits and two earned runs while walking two batters. He struck out six.
— Austin Brice came in to bridge Boston into the seventh, but after giving up an RBI single to Joey Wendle, the inherited baserunner scored to make it a 3-1 game. He gave up two hits but only the one unearned run.
— Hirokazu Sawamura got into a jam in his relief inning after hitting Randy Arozarena with a pitch and walking Austin Meadows immediately after. But Boston’s defense bailed him out with a double play thanks to an awesome catch from Franchy Cordero to end the inning.
— Darwinzon Hernandez walked two batters in the top of the eighth, but struck out Wendle to keep it a clean inning.
— Matt Barnes closed out a drama-free, 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts. He came back out for the 10th for the same thing with another pair of Ks.
— Tanner Houck came in for the 11th and gave up a double that helped the Rays score for the ultimate 4-3 lead. He had two strikeouts to prevent things from getting too out of hand.
— Phillips Valdez threw the 12th, and the Rays go-ahead run came after the second batter he faced grounded out, allowing Zunino to score.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Christian Arroyo led off with a double to shallow left in the bottom of the first, and advanced to third after J.D. Martinez hit a grounder. Arroyo later scored on a wild pitch with Xander Bogaerts at the plate.
— Bogaerts singed and Vázquez walked to get on in the fourth. Each then stole a base to put the go-ahead runs in scoring position, but were stranded after a strikeout from Marwin Gonzalez.
— Hunter Renfroe doubled off Tampa Bay reliever Cody Reed, but nothing came of it.
— Boston’s half of the eighth was exciting as Alex Verdugo got it going with a double to right-center. Martinez followed him up with another deep shot to right, which went for an RBI double. Devers flew out to center with two outs to end the threat.
— Vázquez forced extra innings by belting a a 383-foot home run over the Green Monster in the ninth.
— Arroyo grounded out to start the 10th in sacrifice to get Hernández to third. After Verdugo got intentionally walked, Martinez grounded out to short stop to advance him to second. Both were left stranded.
— Devers became the first Red Sox player to record multiple hits Tuesday, and his RBI single in the 11th scored Bogaerts to tie it up again at 4-4.
— Martinez finally called game with a double in the 12th to save the day. He finished 2-for-6 with three RBI to continue his hot streak.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Fans at the game saw extra baseball, a walk-off and a beautiful sunset on a lovely day in Boston.
Not bad.
UP NEXT
Boston and Tampa Bay go at it one more time Wednesday with first pitch from Fenway Park slated for 1:10 p.m. ET.
