On a night when there was little margin for error, Chris Sale made sure that he didn't make any big ones.
Backed by solo runs in the fourth and ninth, the Red Sox' ace ensured that was it was enough with eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball as the Sox blanked the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-0, for the club's seventh straight win.
Coupled with the Yankees' loss in Toronto, the victory gave the Red Sox a four-game lead in the A.L. East, their biggest margin since July 7.
Sale fanned 13 and became the first American League pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 2000 to record 15 double-digit strikeout games. He leads the A.L. with 229 strikeouts.
The first run of the night came in the fourth when Dustin Pedroia drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a single by Andrew Benintendi, took third one fielder's choice and scored on another. Jackie Bradley, who made a costly baserunning blunder in the seventh to get doubled off first base, golfed a pitch into center in the ninth to score Xander Bogaerts from third for a big insurance run.
Until Bradley's run-scoring single, the Sox were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, but Sale, 14-4, was good enough to overcome the lack of support.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 28th save.
GAME NO.: 113
WHO: Red Sox (63-49) vs Tampa Bay Rays (58-55)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Tropicana Field
TV: NESN
RADIO: WEEI (93.7 FM)
PITCHERS: Chris Sale (13-4, 2.70) vs. Austin Pruitt (6-2 5.65)
BOX SCORE: MLB Gameday
SERIES TO DATE: The Rays lead, 6-5 through the first 11 meetings. They took three of four from the Sox at the Trop in the last series of the first half.
WHERE THINGS STAND: The Sox have won six in a row and eight of their last 10 and own a three-game lead in the American League East. Despite a number of acquisitions before the trading deadline, the Rays are just 5-5 in their last 10 games and sit 5.5 games behind the Sox in the East.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Dustin Pedroia rejoins the active roster Tuesday and returns to the lineup at DH, with Eduardo Nunez remaining, for now, at second base. Sale endured his worst start of the season last week against Cleveland, but will be pitching on six days' rest, when he's traditionally flourished.
STAT OF NOTE: Despite being in first place in the division, the Red Sox are a game under .500 (21-22) in the East.
LINEUP:
RED SOX
Nunez 2B
Pedroia DH
Benintendi LF
Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Moreland 1B
Leon C
Bradley Jr. CF
RAYS
Bourjos CF
Plouffee 3B
Longoria DH
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr. RF
Ramos C
Hechavarria SS
Robertson 2B
Smith LF
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- Dustin Pedroia returned to the Red Sox lineup Tuesday, but not, initially at least, to second base. The Sox eased Pedroia back with a game at DH, with an eye toward perhaps having him at his customary position Wednesday. The Sox want to be careful with Pedroia's workload as he returns from a DL stint due to left knee inflammation. "It's kind of a gradual build-up,'' said John Farrell. "We'll see how he comes out of (Tuesday night). We'll see how he feels physically.''
- Hanley Ramirez (oblique) remained out of the lineup for a third straight game, but reported that he felt improved. Ramirez said he hopes to be in the lineup Wednesday. "With an oblique,'' said Farrell, "even though he said he feels like he's ready to go (Tuesday), we felt like a work day was going to be important, just to make sure we test it. We didn't want to put him in a spot where he overswings and we set him back. Hopefully, he is ready to go (Wednesday).''
- Farrell said he hasn't ruled out trying to get work at first for Eduardo Nunez, but doesn't want to throw too much at him, too soon. Nunez hadn't played a lot of second base with the Giants before being dealt to the Sox, and yet, he's played the last six games there in Pedroia's absence. "We'll take this a day at a time,'' Farrell said.
- David Price made "25 to 28" throws from 60 feet Tuesday -- all fastballs. The Sox had backed off him late last week when Price, on the DL with inflammation in the left elbow, felt what was described as "general soreness.''
- The Sox will use Eduardo Rodriguez Friday in the opener at Yankee Stadium, Drew Pomeranz Saturday and Chris Sale Sunday night before Doug Fister draws Cleveland in the makeup game at Fenway Monday.
- Mitch Moreland was the Gold Glove winner at first base last season while with Texas, but I'm not seeing the same level of play at the position this year. Moreland has been charged with four errors this season, but what stands out to me is his inability to dig out some relatively routine throws in the dirt. In particular, rookie Rafael Devers has two throwing errors in his first two weeks in the big leagues, and I think Moreland should have dug out both. In the fourth inning, Trevor Plouffe hit a ball to Devers, who crow-hopped and then fired a throw on one hop that Moreland couldn't come up with. It was even more obvious on the first error made by Devers last week, where a big hop should have been an easy "save'' for Moreland.
- Chris Sale has been his dominant self. He's got nine strikeouts through six innings and he's allowed just two hits -- both singles. It helps, no doubt, that Sale is pitching with six days' rest. In his career, Sale has made 23 starts with six days of rest and has an ERA of 1.97.