It was not easy, but the Red Sox handed the Rays their seventh loss in a row.
Boston defeated the Rays 9-5 in 11 innings Tuesday night at Tropicana Field in a game that featured a little bit of everything between errors on both sides of the ball, questionable calls, Major League Baseball debuts and, naturally, the catwalk getting involved.
Eduardo Rodriguez’s struggles continued as he gave up five runs (three earned) on seven hits in yet another no-decision. He has not won a game since May 7. The southpaw did strike out seven, but just could not seem to get out of his own way.
The Red Sox blew a 5-2 lead, but were able to come away with the win as they scored four runs in the 11th inning and improved to 44-29. The Rays flipped to 43-31 in the loss.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Doozy.
That’s really the only way to describe everything that happened over the course of the game.
ON THE BUMP
— Rodriguez ran into trouble early thanks to a bobble from Rafael Devers and an errant throw by Xander Bogaerts.
Devers’ error and a walk to Wander Franco, who was making his MLB debut, put two men on with nobody out. Randy Arozarena singled to load up the bags, and Francisco Mejia singled to Bogaerts that resulted in two runs due to the wild throw.
Rodriguez got out of the inning on the seventh batter he faced and the Rays up 2-0.
The southpaw settled down for the next three innings, striking out five and now allowing a run. Things changed in the fifth, however.
Kevin Kiermaier was hit by a pitch to begin the frame before Yandy Diaz singled. Franco then made his night one he’ll never forget when he tied the game at 5-5 with his first MLB home run.
The inning ended without any further damage, and tossed a 1-2-3 sixth to end his night.
— Josh Taylor picked up two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh.
— The eighth belonged to Adam Ottavino and he surrendered a single and walk to begin the inning, but bounced back and got out of the jam.
— Matt Barnes began the ninth by giving up a walk. It looked as if the Rays were going to have two men on with nobody out after Diaz hit into a fielder’s choice. Kiermaier originally was called safe, but after review the umpires called Kiermaier out. Replay showed he threw an elbow to help knock the ball away from Hernández.
The right-hander struck out Austin Meadows to get out of the inning and send the game to extras.
— Hirokazu Sawamura pitched the 10th and got two outs, with the second coming by way of Brett Phillips forgetting he had to run to third on the forceout.
— Darwinzon Hernandez came in to get the third and final out of the inning.
The left-hander returned for the 11th and closed out the game.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox made some noise in the third when Danny Santana led the inning off with a walk before Alex Verdugo singled, bringing J.D. Martinez to the plate. The DH doubled to left that scored two runs to tie things up.
— An 11-pitch at-bat by Bogaerts ended with a single and men on the corners still with no one out and Devers at the dish. He drove in Martinez on a sacrifice fly to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
— The third continued with a Hunter Renfroe two-run home run to make it a 5-2 game.
— Yarbrough hit Kiké Hernández to continue the nightmare inning for the Rays before Kevin Cash replaced Yarbrough with Ryan Thompson.
— A Devers double off the catwalk was wasted in the eighth when he tried to advance to third on a Renfroe groundout, but he was out of the basepath and the inning ended on what turned into a double play.
— Boston tried to score the go-ahead run in the 10th after Bobby Dalbec moved to the third on a Santana single. A wild pitch bounced right back to Francisco Mejia who tossed it to Pete Fairbanks and tagged Dalbec out.
Fairbanks blocked the plate, but it was a legal move at the end of the day, and the Red Sox couldn’t capitalize in a crucial moment after the inning ended on a strike-him-out-throw-him-out.
— Connor Wong, who was added to Boston’s roster Tuesday, made his MLB debut as the runner on second in the 11th.
And he ended up scoring the game-winning run on a Devers double down the left field line that scored Wong and Bogaerts to give the Red Sox a 7-5 lead.
— Renfroe added more insurance made it 8-5 with a single that scored Devers before a sacrifice fly opened it up to 9-5.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Seriously, how pure was this moment?
UP NEXT
The Red Sox continue their series against the Rays on Wednesday night. First pitch from Tropicana Field is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.
