Apparently Thursday's win was nothing more than a mirage. The Tampa Bay Rays resumed their domination of the Red Sox with an 11-1 pasting. The win was the sixth in eight tries against the Sox for the Rays.
The Rays managed at least one run in six of their eight innings, with Nate Lowe leading the way with his first two homers of the season, good for four RBI.
The Red Sox avoided a shutout in the ninth inning when Bobby Dalbec sliced an opposite-field double, scoring Jackie Bradley.
WHO: Red Sox (16-29) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (28-16)
WHEN: 6:40 p.m.
WHERE: Tropicana Field
SEASON SERIES: TB 5-2
SERIES TO DATE: BOS 1-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Andrew Triggs (0-2, 9.95) vs. LHP Blake Snell (3-1, 3.74)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Verdugo RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Vazquez C
Plawecki DH
Bradley CF
Dalbec 1B
Chavis LF
Arroyo 2B
RAYS
Meadows LF
Wendle SS
B. Lowe 2B
Choi 1B
Kermaier CF
Tsutsugo 3B
N. Lowe DH
Phillips RF
Perez C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B8th: The beating continues. Robert Stock retired the first three hitters he faced, but the Rays use a couple of doubles, a walk and groundout to push two more across.
B7th: Inability to throw strikes continues to dog the Red Sox. Robinson Leyer issues back-to-back walks, then gives up a run-scoring single to Tsutsugo. From there, it gets worse as Nate Lowe supplies his second homer of the night, this one with two aboard.
B6th: Domino Tapia's major league debut takes a rough turn on his second pitch -- a changeup is driven out to the second row in RF by Nate Lowe.
T5th: Alex Verdugo changed up his approach with two strikes and hit the ball hard the other way -- but right at Rays left fielder Austin Meadows, stranding Dalbec.
B4th: It's beyond me why Hall keeps getting me the ball. Four runs in 2.1 innings here, with baserunners everywhere. Now that he's finished, here are his numbers to date this season: 8.2 IP, 17 H, 18 ER, 10 BB, 9 K for an ERA of 18.69
B3rd: Red Sox pitchers are not giving Christian Vazquez much of a chance to throw out runners. Rays are getting big jumps and have three stolen bases in three innings.
T3rd: If nothing else, Red Sox are making Snell work with some extended at-bats. He's at 53 pitches after just three innings.
B2nd: Matt Hall gives up a homer to the first hitter he sees - Yoshi Tsutsugo drives it to CF on a 2-and-2 pitch.
T2nd: It continues to be all-or-nothing for Bobby Dalbec, who has homers in each of the last five games, but goes down swinging against Blake Snell.
T2nd: Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to swing it well. As usual, when it's going well for him, he uses the whole field, this time taking Blake Snell to left for a two-out double.
PRE-GAME NOTES
- Every member of the Tampa Bay starting lineup is a lefthanded hitter, something Ron Roenicke said he didn't think he's ever seen. "When Jerry Narron gave me the lineup, it looked wrong to me,'' said Roenicke. "Everything was in red (signifying a lefthanded hitters). I don't know how often that has happened. I don't know the history of that or when the last time that's happened. Pretty interesting, though.''
- RHP Nathan Eovaldi played catch Friday and will return to action Saturday. He'll be limited in terms of pitch count and innings, having last pitched on Aug. 20. 'We'll see how efficient he is with his pitches and how long we can keep him out there,'' said Roenicke.
- Roenicke said Chris Sale began light throwing a week ago and "everything is going well.'' Sale underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of March.
- The Sox placed LHP Josh Taylor on the IL with shoulder tendinitis. In his place, the Sox recalled RHP Domingo Tapia from the alternate training site.