As for the game, Shane McClanahan's march to the AL Cy Young award went through the Red Sox like a hot knife through butter. Shane improved to 9-1 on the season while holding the Sox to just 5 hits in 6 strong innings. Meanwhile Brayan Bello (3-4, 3.97 ERA) was the hard luck loser, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. The Rays got a run against Nick Pivetta in the seventh while the Rays bullpen shut the Sox down. It all added up to a 4-1 loss to the Rays at Fenway Park.
Bello got the ball in the top of the first inning and Yandy Diaz struck out swinging to start. Wander Franco struck out swinging and Josh Lowe went down hacking to end the inning. McClanahan got the ball in the bottom of the first and Rob Refsnyder walked to start. Alex Verdugo lined out to left but Justin Turner walked. Rafael Devers grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Isaac Parades walked to start the top of the second but Taylor Walls flied out to left. Luke Raaley flied out to center and Manny Margot hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. Masataka Yoshida took strike three to start the bottom of the second and Enrique Hernandez grounded out to second. Pablo Reyes grounded out to short to end the inning.
Vidal Brujan flied out to left to start the top of the third and Francisco Mejia flied out to right. Diaz got a base hit to right but Franco grounded out to first to end the inning. Connor Wong popped up to first to start the bottom of the third and Christian Arroyo struck out swinging. Refsnyder got a base hit to center but Verdugo struck out swinging to end the inning.
Lowe grounded out to second to start the top of the fourth and Paredes popped up to first. Walls popped up to short to end the inning. Turner grounded out to second to start the bottom of the fourth but Devers singled to right. Yoshida popped up to short and Hernandez lined out to second to end the inning.
The Rays struck first in the top of the fifth as Raley doubled to center to start. Margot got a base hit to left to score Raley and Brujan grounded out to first to move Manny to third. Mejia got a base hit to center to score Margot and Diaz got a base hit inside the bag at third. Franco blooped a base hit to left to load the bases and Lowe beat out a double play ball to score another run. Paredes struck out swinging but the Rays were up for good 3-0.
Reyes took strike three to start the bottom of the fifth and Wong struck out swinging. Arroyo doubled to right but Refsnyder grounded out to short to end the inning.
Bello returned for one final inning in the top of the sixth as Walls struck out swinging to start. Raley flied out to center but Reyes booted a grounder by Margot for an error. Brujan flied out to right to end the inning. That was it for Bello who held the Rays to 3 runs in 6 innings but got no run support.
The Sox struck back in the bottom of the sixth as Verdugo grounded out to short to start. Turner then launched his 7th home run of the season to cut the lead. Devers got a base hit to center but Yoshida grounded into a double play to end the inning with the Sox down 3-1.
Turner gets the Sox on the board
The Rays tagged Nick Pivetta in the top of the seventh as Mejia grounded out to second to start. Diaz walked and Franco doubled to left, but Lowe struck out swinging. Paredes walked to load the bases and Walls walked home Diaz. That was it for Pivetta as Brennan Bernardino came in to get Raley to ground back to the mound to end the inning with the Rays up 4-1.
Another run for Tampa
Calvin Faucher came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Hernandez lined out to right. Jarren Duran pinch hit for Reyes and grounded out to short. Connor Wong got a base hit to center and Triston Casas pinch hit for Arroyo. Casas walked but Refsnyder took strike three to end the inning.
Margot took strike three to start the top of the eighth and Brujan popped up to short. Mejia doubled to left and Diaz grounded out to short to end the inning. Colin Poche came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Verdugo walked to start. Turner flied out to center and Devers took strike three while Verdugo was thrown out trying to steal to end the inning. Cora finally lost it and attacked home plate umpire Chris Guccione. Cora was ejected and was escorted out of Fenway by armed security.
Kaleb Ort came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Franco walked to start. Lowe struck out swinging and Paredes flied out to left. Walls grounded out to third to end the inning. Jason Adam came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Yoshida grounded out to short to start. Hernandez struck out swinging and Duran went down hacking to end the game. The Rays had won the game 4-1.
Jackass of the Night is Masataka Yoshida. He left multiple men on base and hit into a crucial double play.
The Good:
Rob Refsnyder was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Justin Turner was 1 for 3 with a walk and a home run.
Rafael Devers was 2 for 4.
Connor Wong was 1 for 3.
Christian Arroyo was 1 for 2.
Triston Casas walked as a pinch hitter.
One of the rare times the losing pitcher ends up on the Good list but Brayan Bello was the hard luck loser allowing just 3 runs in 6 solid innings. He allowed 6 hits and a walk while striking out 5.
Brennan Bernardino tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Kaleb Ort pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Pablo Reyes was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Jarren Duran was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Nick Pivetta allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning.
The Ugly:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.
Final Thoughts:
Just when you thought it was a different season, once again the Red Sox can't beat AL East teams. The Rays are damn good this year but this was straight dominance. Shane McClanahan is gunning for the AL Cy Young award and it showed, the Sox had no chance in this one. Bello pitched well as did Bernadino and Ort, but it wasn't good enough. The Sox offense had an off-night but the worst part was they had their chances. Being unable to hit in the clutch is going to kill them when all is said and done. In the era of the second wild card, these kinds of games bite you in the ass in the end. The loss dropped the Sox to 30-30, 12 games behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to bounce back tomorrow as they head to Cleveland for a three game set with the Guardians. James Paxton (1-1) takes on Shane Bieber of Cleveland. The game begins at 8:10 PM eastern time at Progressive Field.
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