BOSTON — Instant reactions from the
Red Sox
’ 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday at Fenway Park:
1)
The Red Sox improved to 50-45. They have won seven straight games. The Rays dropped to 50-44. Boston has won five of seven games against Tampa this season.
2)
Boston scored three runs in the seventh inning against right-handed reliever Bryan Baker, who the Rays acquired earlier in the day from the Orioles for a draft pick.
Baker walked Trevor Story and Romy Gonzalez to start the inning.
Marcelo Mayer’s opposite-field RBI double cut Boston’s deficit to 3-2. It left his bat at 108.7 mph.
Ceddanne Rafaela then connected on a 1-2 slider outside of the zone and dropped it into center field for a go-ahead two-run double to make it 4-3 Red Sox.
3)
Starter
Walker Buehler
pitched 6 innings and allowed three runs, five hits and three walks while striking out two. He recorded just seven swings-and-misses.
Ha-Seong Kim’s 389-foot two-run homer off Buehler put the Rays ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning. The righty left a slider right down the middle of the plate.
Buehler left a cutter down the middle to Junior Caminero who belted it 384 feet into the Monster Seats for his 23rd homer, putting Tampa ahead 3-1 in the sixth.
It was Buehler’s third time facing the Rays this season. He won his first two outings vs. them.
4)
Roman Anthony
extended his hit streak to seven games when he put the Red Sox ahead 1-0 in the third inning with an RBI single to right field.
5)
Lefty reliever Chris Murphy pitched a scoreless seventh inning. He has thrown 6 ⅔ scoreless innings since returning from the IL after a lengthy rehab from
Tommy John surgery that he underwent in April 2024
.
6)
Garrett Whitlock threw a perfect eighth inning. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless ninth for his 16th save.
7)
The Red Sox recorded just four hits, two of which were during the seventh-inning comeback.
8)
The Red Sox and Rays will play the second game of their four-game series Friday. Boston has yet to announce its starting pitcher but righty
Hunter Dobbins
(4-1, 4.10 ERA) is likely to be activated from the IL to make the start. Righty Drew Rasmussen (7-5, 2.82 ERA) will start for Tampa.
