Final: Rays 6, Red Sox 5

In a back-and-forth battle that lasted four hours and saw both teams nearly empty their bullpen, the Tampa Bay Rays held off the Red Sox 6-5 and expanded their wild card lead to a game and a half over Boston.

The Sox had several chances in the late innings, but left two runners on in the seventh, the bases loaded in the eighth and runners at the corners in the ninth.

Colten Brewer, the third of six Red Sox relievers, gave up a two-run double to Avisail Garcia in the sixth for the go-ahead runs.

David Price turned in his third straight poor start, lasting just 4.1 innings and allowing four runs.

Andrew Benintendi continued to wield a hot bat with a two-run homer and a run-scoring single.

WHO: Red Sox (59-48) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (60-48)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: 6-6
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP David Price (7-4, 3.66) vs. RHP Charlie Morton (12-3, 2.60)
TV/RADIO:  NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

10:51 Devers lines out to left, leaving the bases loaded. One of the rare at-bats in recent weeks in which he hasn't delivered.

9:55  Darwinzon Hernandez continues to impress -- 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. He's fanned 24 in 11.1 innings. Hernandez certainly looks like he's earned the trust to pitch in higher leverage situations.

9:39  Bullpen struggles continue for Sox -- Josh Taylor allows a hit to the only batter he faces and Colten Brewer yields a wall-scraping, two-run, first-pitch double to Avisail Garcia.

9:16   Charlie Morton absolutely didn't want to give the ball up to manager Kevin Cash. He did, reliever Adam Kolarek came in, threw one pitch and gave up a two-run homer to Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi has now homered in three straight games.

9:05  Solid job by Marcus Walden, who throws four pitches and gets two outs -- though an inherited run scored.

8:57  Two solo homers off Price in the fifth -- a 90 mph two-seamer to Travis d'Arnaud and a cutter to Avisail Garcia -- tie the game at 3-3.

8:38  Price does a nice job working out of a jam that wasn't entirely his own doing (Devers error), getting Mike Zunino looking and Matt Duffy swinging to leave the bases loaded.

8:18  Sox continue to string together hits against Morton. Singles from Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi produces another run. Sox seem to be handling breaking pitches down in the zone well.

7:45 The Rays are hitting Davie Price hard. This inning alone, there was a shot to the warning track in right by Michael Brosseau and a sharp single to center Nate Lowe. In the first, Travis d'Arnaud ripped a hard single down the right field line.

7:41 It's the first inning and thanks to a bases-loaded line single to right by Mitch Moreland, the Red Sox already have more runs against Charlie Morton tonight than they had in seven innings last Wednesday at Tropicana Field.

LINEUPS 



RED SOX

Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Benintendi LF
Moreland 1B
Vazquez C
Holt 2B
Bradley CF

RAYS

Duffy 3B
d'Arnaud 1B
Meadows LF
Garcia RF
Brosseau 2B
Lowe DH
Adames SS
Heredia CF
Zunino C

WHAT's UP: The Red Sox have won 3-of-4 and 5-of-7...They're also gone 5-1 in their last six home games after a period in which they were under .500 for the season at Fenway...The Sox come into the series leading the majors in runs scored (626), runs per game (5.85), average (.276), OBP (.347), doubles (325)...They're second in extra-base hits (416), and are third in slugging (.475) and OPS (.823)...The Sox have 52 homers in their last 28 games, tying them for second in that span...They also lead MLB in games in which they've scored six or more runs (54 times) and 12-plus runs (eight times)….The Sox have homered in each of their last 14 home games, the longest such streak since 2004...The last time they homered in 15 straight home games was Aug. 18-Sept. 16 in 1969 when they homered in 17 straight at Fenway.....The Sox have nine players in double figures in homers; they also have three players with 20 or more homers...Andrew Benintendi is 15-for-31 (.484) with nine RBI and nine runs scored in his last seven games...He's homered in two straight games....J.D. Martinez is hitting .375 (15-for-40) with three homers and 12 RBI....Rafael Devers is slugging .780 during his current nine-game hitting streak...Devers has knocked in 79 runs in his last 80 games...Xander Bogaerts has hit in four straight with five RBI and since the All-Star break, is slashing .417/.468/.764 for a 1.232 OPS with six homers and 16 RBI in 17 games...Jackie Bradley Jr. has hit in four straight....Since coming off the IL on May 20, David Price is 6-2 with a 3.61 ERA in 13 starts. He's allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of those starts...In four starts against the Rays this season, he's 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA....Mike Zunino is just 4-for-22 (.182) with one homer and 14 strikeouts in his career against Price while Matt Duffy is 4-for-28 (.143) with 10 strikeouts....Mookie Betts is 6-for-15 (.400) against Charlie Morton while Mitch Moreland is 3-for-15 (.200) lifetime.