All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Pivetta's no-hit bid cut short: Starter Nick Pivetta turned in his best start of the season, with a fastball consistently registering in the upper 90s, to go with a sharp breaking curveball. Through the fifth inning, he had pitched to one batter over the minimum and hadn't allowed a hit. When he got to the seventh, he still hadn't given up a hit. With one runner aboard via an error and two out, however, Pivetta was already at 100 pitches, and with a lefty-hitter due and Josh Taylor ready, Alex Cora went and lifted Pivetta, who completely understood the decision. "It was a tie ballgame at the time and I was at 100 pitches,'' said Pivetta. "Right now, it's just about winning baseball games.'' Cora said the decision wasn't hard, given the pitch count and the available matchup. Indeed, Taylor, after an intentional walk to a righthanded pinch hitter, got a fly out to end the threat and the inning. And Pivetta likely would have needed another 30 pitches to get through the ninth, which wasn't going to happen. Any chance of a combined no-hitter went by the boards in the eighth when Darwinzon Hernandez gave up a one-out, opposite field double to Kevin Kiermaier.
Sox lose in excruciating fashion: With the game scoreless into the bottom of the ninth, Manuel Margot reached with a two-out single to left. He then stole second against Matt Barnes, and when Christian Vazquez's one-hop throw caromed off Margot and into center field, Margot took third. On a 1-and-1 pitch to Joey Wendle, Barnes bounced a curveball in the dirt which Wendle swung at. The ball bounced up, hit Vazquez in the chest and then rolled toward the on-deck circle. Margot raced in from third as Vazquez gave Barnes an underhand feed at the plate. Margot slid in ahead of the tag, and the Rays had an improbable walk-off win on a swinging strike/wild pitch. It was the second walk-off defeat the Sox have suffered this season, and it had the distinction of also -- temporarily at least -- knocking them from their first-place perch in the division, dropping them a half-game behind Tampa Bay.
TURNING POINT: The best scoring chance the Red Sox had all night was snuffed out at the plate in the seventh inning. With Hunter Renfroe on second and one out, Christian Vazquez singled to center. Renfroe hesitated for just a second to make sure the ball was going to drop in, then seemed to slow for an instant as he hit third, despite being waved in by third base coach Carlos Febles. Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier charged the ball and unleashed a pea to the plate. Renfroe went in head first and got his hand on the plate, but not before Rays catcher Roberto Mejia tagged him on the thigh in a bang-bang play at the plate.
ONE UP
Hunter Renfroe: Renfroe had a double and also turned in the defensive play of the game, hauling in a ball on the warning track with a leap to take extra-bases away from Ji-Man Choi in the fifth inning.
TWO DOWN
Michael Chavis: Inserted into the leadoff spot after being called up, Chavis was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk and also committed an error at first base.
Adam Ottavino: The team's most dependable high-leverage reliever for the last two months, he inherited a first-and-second mess in the eighth and stranded both baserunners.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"I did not want to come out. But it's not about me. It's about winning baseball games.'' Nick Pivetta, lifted after 100 pitches despite not having allowed a hit.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* J. D. Martinez extended his hitting steak with a single in the sixth inning.
* Josh Taylor extended his consecutive scoreless appearance streak to 22 straight games.
* In the three-game series, Bobby Dalbec was 0-for-10 with 10 strikeouts and one walk.
* The last time a Red Sox starter was pulled after six innings with a no-hitter intact was 1916 -- Babe Ruth.
* Adam Ottavino has stranded 16 of 17 inherited runners this season.
UP NEXT: The Red Sox return home for a seven-game homestand, starting with the New York Yankees at 7:10 Friday. It will be LHP Martin Perez (5-4, 4.32) vs. RHP Domingo German (4-4, 4.17)