Old buddy Jalen "Twin" Beeks got the start for Tampa and made the Sox beat the ball in the dirt in the top of the first inning. Mr. Mookie Betts grounded out to short, Rafael Devers grounded out to second and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to third to end the inning. Travis d'Arnaud walked to start the bottom of the first but Rodriguez got Tommy Pham to hit into a double play. Austin Meadows grounded out to short to end the inning.
JD Martinez went down swinging to start the top of the second and Christian Vazquez popped up to first. Andrew Benintendi singled to right but Sam Travis grounded out to second to end the inning. Rodriguez froze Yandy Diaz for strike three to start the bottom of the second and Avisail Garcia also took strike three. Michael Brosseau grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Sox exploded in the top of the third although Jackie Bradley Jr grounded out to first. Marco Hernandez got the rally started with a base hit to left and Mr. Mookie walked. Devers doubled to center to score both runners and Bogaerts walked. Martinez iced the game early with his 20th home run of the season but Vazquez grounded out to third. Benintendi and Travis then struck back to back home runs to put the exclamation point on the inning. JBJ popped up to short to end the inning but the Sox hit 3 homers and led 7-0.
Rodriguez got Willy Adames to line out to right to start the bottom of the third and Mike Zunino grounded back to the mound. Guillermo Heredia singled over the head of Travis but d'Arnaud went down swinging to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fourth as Marco Hernandez singled to center to start. Mr. Mookie struck out swinging and Rafael Devers grounded out to first to move Hernandez to second. Twin Beeks was done and Chaz Roe came in to pitch only for Bogaerts to score Hernandez with a bloop double to right. Martinez lined out to center to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-0.
Rodriguez got Pham to line back to him to start the bottom of the fourth and Meadows lined out to second. Diaz walked but Garcia grounded out to second to end the inning.
Vazquez flied out to right to start the top of the fifth but Benintendi doubled to left. Travis flied out to right and JBJ grounded out to first to end the inning. Brosseau was retired on a squibber in front of the plate to begin the bottom of the fifth and Adames grounded out to third. Zunino walked but Heredia flied out to right to end the inning.
Colin Poche came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Hernandez flied out to left to start. Mr. Mookie flied out to right and Devers flied out to left to end the inning. d'Arnaud struck out swinging to start the bottom of the sixth and Pham grounded out to second. Meadows walked but Diaz grounded into a force to end the inning.
Hunter Wood came on for the top of the seventh and Bogaerts walked to start. Martinez lined out to left. Vazquez flied out to right and Benintendi grounded into a force to end the inning. Rodriguez came back for one more inning in the bottom of the seventh and Garcia grounded out to third to start. Brosseau looked to have grounded out to short but Rays manager Kevin Cash challenged the play and it was overturned, base hit for Brosseau. Rodriguez got mad and froze both Adames and Zunino for strike three to end the inning. Rodriguez was outstanding, tossing 7 shutout innings while allowing just 2 hits and striking out 6.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the eighth as Travis struck out swinging to start. JBJ flied out to left and Hernandez flied out to left as well to end the inning. The Sox tried Nathan Eovaldi as a reliever in the bottom of the eighth and that failed as Heredia hit a soft roller to Devers for a hit then took second on a wild pitch. d'Arnaud doubled to left to score Heredia and another wild pitch moved Travis to third. Pham took strike three but Meadows doubled home d'Arnaud and Diaz singled home Meadows. Garcia whiffed but Brosseau singled to chase Eovaldi. Matt Barnes came in and got Adames to ground out to short to end the inning with the Rays down 8-3.
Joey Wendle took over for Meadows and Brosseau the second baseman came in to pitch the top of the ninth. Mr. Mookie lined out to third and Devers flied out to right, but Bogaerts doubled to right and Martinez doubled to left to score Xander. Vazquez singled to left to advance Bogaerts to third but Benintendi grounded into a force to end the inning with the Sox ahead 9-4.
Josh Taylor had mop up duty in the mop up duty in the bottom of the ninth and Zunino walked to start. Heredia flied out to center but d'Arnaud singled to left. Pham doubled home Zunino to cut the lead but Wendle lined out to second. Nate Lowe pinch hit for Diaz and struck out swinging to end the game. The Sox had won it 9-4.
Hero of the Night is JD Martinez. He broke out of a slump by slugging a 3 run homer and driving in 4 total runs.
The Good:
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 3 with 2 walks, an rbi and 2 runs scored.
Andrew Benintendi was 3 for 5 with a solo home run.
Marco Hernandez was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.
Eduardo Rodriguez earned the win with 7 shutout innings. He allowed just 2 hits and 4 walks.
Matt Barnes retired the only man he faced.
The Bad:
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4.
Nathan Eovaldi allowed 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning.
Josh Taylor allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4 with a strikeout but walked and scored a run.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 5 but drove in 2 runs and scored a run.
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 5.
Sam Travis was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a solo home run.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox have 12 straight games against the New York Yankees and Rays coming up and if this is their last chance to get back in the race, the Sox passed test 1. Beating the undefeated Twin Beeks was good, especially with Martinez finding his groove and Rodriguez pitching well. The Sox pitching woes have been well documented but today Rodriguez pitched like an ace. The Sox are going to need this kind of pitching in the next few weeks if they want to go down the stretch in playoff contention. Eovaldi looked rusty tonight but hopefully that's just temporary. The Sox are gonna need him healthy if the Sox hope to beat the Rays and Yankees in the next two weeks. At least they came out on the winning end tonight. The win improved the Sox to 55-46, 10 games behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow night Chris Sale (4-9) looks to get back on track against Yonny Chirinos of the Rays. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Tropicana Field.
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