All you need to know, in quickie form. about the Red Sox' 3-2 loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Price outpitched by Morton: David Price pitched far better than last Friday in Baltimore (when he allowed six runs in just four innings to the worst team in the American League), allowing three runs in six innings. Price gave up just four hits, but one was a solo homer (Tommy Pham) in the fourth, and the other three were all bunched together in the bottom half of the Tampa lineup in the fifth, and coupled with a wild pitch, led to two runs. Price had been given a 2-0 lead in the third, but couldn't make it stand up. And while the pitching line wasn't bad, it wasn't good enough to beat Charlie Morton, who entered the game as the A.L.'s ERA leader and showed why with seven innings in which he allowed just five hits -- and only one after the third inning. Price is now winless in his last three starts, during which he's allowed 13 runs in 15 innings.
Sox bats silenced: The same lineup which scored 14 runs over the first two games of the series was limited to just two runs in the series finale Wednesday. It wasn't as if the Sox had lots of scoring chances, either. In the final five innings, they managed exactly one baserunner. Some credit, of course, has to go to Morton, who pitched extremely well, as he has most of the season. But there's also frustrating inconsistency to the Sox' offense. Here are the runs from the last week: 5, 5, 2, 17, 0, 9, 5 and 2. In other words, all over the map. Some of that is due to variables, including the quality of the starting pitcher. But while the Sox lead the majors in the runs scored for the season, it seems that too often, the offense disappears. On Wednesday, that cost the Sox the game.
Confusion reigns on lineup change: In a truly bizarre sequence in the top of the eighth inning, Kevin Cash attempted to stash his lefty reliever, Adam Kolarek, at first base before bringing him back to the mound a hitter later to face another lefty. But in so doing, at one point, the Rays had two pitchers in the game and the DH, which is clearly illegal. The umpires later made the proper adjustments to the lineup card, but the Red Sox played the game under protest. In the meantime, in the span of 21 minutes, exactly one pitch was thrown. "They made some illegal substitutions,' explained Cora after the loss. "It was a mess at one point...I wasn't able to keep up with Angel (Hernandez, umpire), so we protested the game and we'll see where it goes.'' Ah yes, the presence of Hernandez, acting crew chief - you knew he would be part of this.
TURNING POINT: In many ways, the Rays' big inning -- scoring twice in the fifth to go from one run down to up one run -- was made possible by a wild pitch from Price. After Mike Brosseau reached on a leadoff single, Price threw a wild pitch that enabled Brosseau to advance to second base and set the rest of the inning in motion.
ONE UP:
Josh Taylor: The rookie lefty was again impressive in the eighth inning, recording two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning.
ONE DOWN:
Xander Bogaerts: The picture of consistency this year, the Red Sox' shortstop was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and stranded a baserunner in the two-run third inning.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"We just ran into a great pitcher today.'' Alex Cora.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING:
- The loss was the first in six games at Tropicana Field for the Red Sox this season.
- Mookie Betts saw his on-base streak extend to 21 games.
- With two RBI, Rafael Devers has 29 RBI in the month of July.