The Red Sox saw their losing streak stretched to three straight Tuesday and did so in particularly ugly fashion.
The Sox were beaten 8-5 by the Tampa Bay Rays, who managed just five hits, but used a series of hit batsmen, errors and misplays to post a six-run third inning. The win was Tampa Bay's ninth in the last 10 tries against the Red Sox, who fell a full 10 games back in the division.
Worse, in the bottom of the first inning, the Sox were forced to remove from the game after he tested positive for COVID-19, the 11th Sox player or staff member to enter COVID protocols since last Friday.
WHO: Red Sox (75-58) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (83-48 )
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Tropicana Field
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: TB 8-5
SERIES TO DATE: TB 1-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Brad Peacock (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Ryan Yarbrough (7-4,4,57)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Renfroe RF
Schwarber LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Dalbec 1B
Verdugo CF
Vazquez C
Arauz 2
RAYS
Lowe 2B
Cruz DH
Franco SS
Meadows LF
Arozarena RF
Wendle 3B
Diaz 1B
Kiermaier CF
Mejia C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T8: Rafael Devers punches a single through the shortstop hole and scores Schwarber from third.
T6: Kyle Schwarber goes deep to CF for a solo homer, his third since joining the Red Sox.
T4: A bad night gets substantially worse for the Red Sox, who lose Bogaerts to a positive COVID test.
B3: And the beat goes on. A bloop double by Arozarena manages to find turn between Munoz and Renfroe, scoring two.
B3: Wild pitch from Gonsalves scores another and a run-scoring single from Austin Meadows.
B3: More defensive sloppiness proves costly. A poor skipping relay throw by Hunter Renfroe is mishandled by cutoff man Bobby Dalbec, resulting in an extra run on a single to right by Wander Franco. Peacock out, Stephen Gonsalves on.
B3: Sloppy throw from CF by Alex Verdugo allows both baserunners to advance on a routine flyout. Shouldn't happen.
B2: Peacock hangs a curveball over the heart of the plate and Randy Arozarena doesn't miss, driving it out to LF to tie the game.
B2: Xander Bogaerts was called off the field and removed before the bottom of the second. Have to think that's COVID-related, and the hits just keep on coming. Jonathan Arauz, who started at second, moves to short with Yairo Munoz taking over at second base.
B1: Brad Peacock gets a quick inning, needing just seven pitches to retire three in a row.
T1: Nice bit of hitting from Xander Bogaerts, who pokes a pitch on the outer half to right field, scoring J.D. Martinez (double) from second.
WHAT'S UP:
The Red Sox have lost each of their last 2 games...They are 3-2 in their last 5 games, 5-3 in their last 8, and 10-8 in their last 16. The Sox are 20-22 since the All-Star break...They are 12- 18 since 7/29, after starting the season 63-40 (.612)... The Red Sox have won 4 of their last 5 series...They have won each of their last 3 series, matching their longest streak of the season (4th time). The Sox snapped a streak of 4 consecutive series losses on the road (11-10-0 in road series overall). ....The Red Sox are 5-8 against the Rays this season, including 1-6 at Tropicana Field...The Sox were swept in a 3-game series their last time here (7/30-8/1). The Red Sox are in a stretch of playing a game on 17 consecutive days from 8/23-9/8 (5-3 so far). 12 of the Sox’ next 15 games are against teams that entered today with a winning record (TB-4, CLE-3, TB3, CWS-3, SEA-3). ....The Red Sox have homered in each of their last 8 games (19 HR total), tied for their longest streak of the season (also 4/4-13). ...The Sox lead MLB with 16 HR in 0-2 count....Bobby Dalbec has 4 HR in his last 4 games, including a solo HR in each of the club’s last 2 games. Dalbec leads the majors this month (min. 50 PA) in SLG (.810) and ranks 2nd in OPS (1.252) and 9th in OBP (.441) while batting .345...He is tied for the team lead in RBI (21), ranking 2nd in HR (7) and XBH (12). In 131 career games, Dalbec has 26 HR and 77 RBI, a 162-game pace of 32 HR and 95 RBI....Rafael Devers ranks among the top 5 in the majors in HR (T-5th, 32), RBI (2nd, 96), doubles (T3rd, 34), XBH (3rd, 67), and total bases (5th, 263). Devers leads the majors in XBH since the beginning of 2019 (185)...His 254 career XBH rank 3rd among Red Sox prior to turning 25 (Williams-314, Doerr-260....In their last 22 games (since 8/7), Sox starters rank 2nd in the AL with a 3.81 SO/BB ratio (122 SO, 32 BB)... In that time, they are 7-5 with a 3.62 ERA (47 ER/112.0 IP). Only 7 pitchers have started a game for the Sox, the fewest in the majors...They have not used fewer than 8 starting pitchers in a season since 1965 (7)...In 6 games since moving to the bullpen, Garrett Richards has recorded a 0.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and .184 opponent AVG (10.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 12 SO). Hirokazu Sawamura has allowed 4 of 29 inherited runners to score this season (13.8%), the 7th-lowest rate among the 85 ML pitchers with 20+ runners inherited...The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (272) and XBH (465) and rank 4th in runs per game (5.07), 3rd in AVG (.259), 2nd in SLG (.445), and 3rd in OPS (.770). The Sox own MLB’s best record when scoring 4+ runs (.838, 67-13)...They have scored 10+ runs 17 times (most in AL) and 15+ runs 3 times (tied for most in AL). In their last 20 games (beginning 8/8), the Sox have scored 127 runs (6.4/game) with a batting line of .276/.359/.498...They scored 6+ runs in 10 of those 20 games, after doing so in none of their previous 15. ....The Red Sox lead the majors in runs scored with 2 outs (280)...With RISP & 2 outs, the Sox lead the majors in AVG (.268) and OPS (.847). With 2 strikes, the Sox lead MLB in RBI (268) & XBH (164)...9 of their last 17 HR have been hit with 2 strikes. The Sox’ 15 HR from the No. 9 spot in the batting order are tied for most in the majors (also DET, HOU, & TB)...Their 41 XBH from that spot lead the majors.
NOTES:
* The Red Sox COVID-list grew by one with the addition of RHP Hirokazu Sawamura. The Sox placed Sawamura and LHP Josh Taylor (close contact) on the COVID-IL.
* They also purchased the contract of RHP Brad Peacock, who will start tonight and added LHP Stephen Gonsalves from Worcester.
* Cora hopes they get four innings out of Peacock, who was acquired Monday from Cleveland in a minor league deal. He'll be pitching on short rest, having last pitched Friday for Triple A Columbus. Cora knows him from their time together in Houston. "He competes,'' said Cora. "When he's right, that ball moves all over the place. He has a good idea of what to do on the mound (to) induce weak contact.
* Hunter Renfroe was reinstated from the bereavement list and was in the lineup in right field after missing the last four games.
* The Sox returned Raynel Espinal to the taxi squad. Espinal made his major league debut Monday night in relief at Tropicana Field.
* The Sox added minor league instructors Andy Fox and Darren Fenster, replacing 1B coach Tom Goodwin (close contact) and quality control coach Ramon Vazquez (positive test).
* Ryan Brasier is with the team and is expected to be activated Wednesday when rosters expand. It's likely the other addition the Sox will make will be INF/OF Danny Santana, who is finishing his rehab in Portland.