Red Sox Wrap: Boston Crushed In Season’s Penultimate Game

The Red Sox dropped their final series of the season Saturday, falling to the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-2, at Fenway Park.

Boston fell to 80-81 with the loss, while Tampa improved to 80-81.

You can check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Boston is playing out the string, folks.

Mickey Gasper got another start as the club looks to finally get him his first big-league hit. He went 0-for-4. Romy Gonzalez has become your everyday third baseman since Rafael Devers went down with his persistent shoulder injuries. Greg Weissert and Luis García were the first arms to come out of the bullpen, and each allowed runners to cross home plate. Vaughn Grissom added another error to his total. Kutter Crawford wasn’t able to get out of the fifth inning, giving up six earned runs in one of his worst starts of the season.

The Red Sox never really stood a chance, which is what you might have expected from a .500 team on Sept. 28.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Triston Casas belted his 13th home run of the season Saturday, which is honestly pretty impressive considering he’s only appeared in 62 games.

— Junior Caminero is very much the real deal, finishing 3-for-5 with a home run and a trio of runs batted in.

— Shane Baz gave up just three hits across his six innings, striking out seven and giving up just one run on Casas’ opposite-field shot.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Rays will close their respective seasons at Fenway Park on Sunday, battling one last time to decide who takes sole possession of third place in the American League East. Boston is set to start a trade deadline acquisition, with first pitch scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.