Welcome back from the All-Star Break, everyone! Hopefully the Rays are well-rested and recharged, because their second half is getting started with a doubleheader against the Red Sox. In the afternoon game, we had Griffin Jax on the mound for the Rays up against Jake Bennett for the Sox.
Jonathan Aranda got a one-out walk in the first, but he was the Rays’ only baserunner for the inning and they left him stranded. Jax did turn it around, though, getting the Red Sox out in order in the home half.
The Rays went 1-2-3 in the top of the second. In the bottom of the inning, things started to go badly for Jax almost immediately. Caleb Durbin singled, then Masataka Yoshida doubled, putting to runs in scoring position. With one out, a Jarren Duran sac fly scored the first run of the game for the Sox. Carlos Narvaez followed that with a single to score one more. Jax did get the final out of the inning, but the Red Sox were up 2-0 after two.
The Rays went three-up, three-down in the third. Anthony Seigler started the home half with a single, but was eliminated in a force out off the bat of Ceddanne Rafaela. Rafaela then stole second. Two outs followed, though, getting the Rays out of the jam.
Junior Caminero proved he’s feeling just fine after his ASG injury with a one-out single in the fourth. Unfortunately the next two batters were out in order to leave him stranded. Yoshida came out swinging in the home half, with a leadoff home run. Jax did collect the next three outs in order, thankfully.
If you need baserunners to score runs, the Rays weren’t doing a great job of catching up on the Red Sox’s lead. They went 1-2-3 in the fifth. In the home half, Seigler got a one-out single, but the Red Sox left him stranded.
Nick Fortes got a free bag in the sixth, getting hit by a pitch to start the inning, but the Rays went down in order after him. While Jax had been doing a creditable job of staying out of trouble through most of the game, in the bottom of the sixth, things really fell off the tracks. Durbin was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Yoshida singled. Romy Gozalez walked to load the bases. A single by Duran scored two runs. That was it for Jax, who was replaced by Chris Roycroft, but the bleeding didn’t stop. Narvaez singled to score one more run. And then Tsung-Che Cheng singled, bringing one more runner home. Seigler grounded into a double play, which the Rays desperately needed, but then Rafaela doubled to score yet another run. Wilyer Abreu was intentionally walked, but it didn’t help anything because Durbin singled, scoring another run. By the time the Rays got the final out of the inning, the Red Sox were up 9-0. After accounting for the runners on base when he was pulled, Jax’s final line for the game was 5.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR on 85 pitches. Rough times.
Alec Gamboa replaced Bennett in the seventh, and he continued the trend of getting the Rays out in order. With two outs in the home half, Narvaez hit a solo home run. The Rays managed to stop the bleeding there, but with a 10-run lead for the Red Sox, perhaps they should just start saving their energy for the evening game.
Taylor Walls got a one-out double in the eighth, but the Rays left him out there, and no runs scored. The Rays opted to save their bullpen by the bottom of the eighth, bringing in Ben Williamson to take on the Sox. He got the first two outs before giving up a single to Abreu on a 44mpg Eephua pitch, which is just about the funniest sentence I’ll write today. I love a position player pitching. Durbin then singled as well. No runs scored, though, so Williamson might have been one of the most effective pitchers of the game.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Ryan Vilade squeaked in a single, but it wouldn’t be enough to mount a comeback. The Rays fell to the Sox, but hopefully in game two the results will be a little different.
Final: Red Sox 10, Rays 0
