All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Rays' 4-1 win over the Red Sox, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
The Red Sox met as a group Monday afternoon prior to the series finale with the Rays. Alex Cora talked to his players about turning the page on this weekend, level setting with the hopes of getting his team back on track. Unfortunately, his team was still facing the Rays and their ace Shane McClanahan who held the offense scoreless despite giving up five hits.
The Rays southpaw was solid, leading his team to their third straight victory in the four-game series. McClanahan tossed six innings giving up one run on five hits while walking two and striking out five. The Rays ace threw 92 pitches, 64 for strikes, and dominated the Red Sox' lineup with his fastball.
The Sox opened the game with Brayan Bello striking out the side, tossing a nasty sinker past leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz, a changeup by the super-talented Wander Franco, and then a 97 mph heater by Josh Lowe. Bello wasn't sharp after that. He struggled over the next two frames but his defense bailed him out with two great catches in the outfield, both saving what would have been Rays' homers.
With one man on in the second inning, Luke Raley smoked a first-pitch slider to deep center field. Kiké Hernández, who struggled all series in the infield, looked like his old self in the outfield. The 31-year-old robbed a homer in the triangle near the Sox bullpen, saving two runs in the process.
One inning later, Alex Verdugo kept the game scoreless with a great catch alongside the wall in right field by the Pesky Pole, preventing a fan from snagging the potential Francisco Mejía homer.
“We’ve got to keep preaching good defense. We’ve got to coach them,” said Cora pregame to reporters. “At the end, it’s on me. I’m the manager of this club and we've been sloppy. So it's not about pointing fingers. The roster is the roster and we have to play better baseball, but I'm the manager of this team and defensively, we're not good. We're not. We keep working. We're going to show up early and we’re going to keep talking about plays, we’re going to coach the players until we get it right.”
His team seemed to have gotten the message on Sunday despite one error committed by shortstop Pablo Reyes.
Boston managed just one run, a home run by Justin Turner in the sixth inning, his seventh of the season, but it was not enough.
The Rays pitching was far superior allowing just one hit after McClanahan was removed from the game.
TURNING POINT
After threatening to score with the long ball, the Rays finally broke through in the fifth inning thanks to a Raley lead off double to left-center. Four of the next five Rays hitters all singled. Bello had no answer for the hit parade by the opposing offense. Manuel Margot chopped a ball over the infield that scored Raley. He would later reach third on a groundout and subsequently score on a Mejía single up the middle that went through a drawn-in Sox infield.
Díaz followed with an infield single, and Franco dropped a single into left field to load the bases again. Lowe's fielder's choice added another run in the frame, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead. A lead they would never give back, and their pitching smothered the Sox offense.
UP
Brayan Bello wasn't bad, the Rays were better: Despite the loss to the Rays, Bello still had a respectable outing tossing six innings giving up three runs (three earned) off six hits while walking one and striking out five batters. The six innings thrown on Sunday was the second-longest start of the season. He threw 100 pitches, 66 for strikes and managed 51 swings and 12 misses.
Rob Refsnyder extends hitting streak: Refsnyder extended his hitting streak to a career high seven games with a single in the third inning He is hitting .432 during this streak and has reached base 15 times in 20 plate appearances versus left-handed pitching since 5/13 (Cardinals series).
Kudos to Rafael Devers: Devers was finally able to string together hits against the Rays. The left-handed slugger went 2-for-4 with two singles. Entering the game, he only managed one hit this against the Rays (one homer). He is now 3-for-25 (.120) in seven games with ten strikeouts.
DOWN
Nick Pivetta wasn't sharp: Pivetta scuffled on the mound walking three batters in 2/3 innings of work. He faced just five batters and walked in a run with the bases loaded. Prior to the Rays series, he looked good in the Reds series. He fanned the side on Thursday night, only needing 13 pitches.
SERIES TAKEAWAY
There is clear gap between the Red Sox and Rays and there doesn't seem to be any signs of that closing anytime soon. Boston gave the Rays too many extra chances this series by walking 11 batters and committing four errors in the field. The Sox are not good enough to overcome giving the Rays extra opportunities and because of that, Tampa Bay is now 7-1 this season against the cellar dwelling Red Sox. The slumping Sox are now 30-30 on the season with 102 games left. There is plenty of baseball to be played, and they'll get Adam Duvall back this weekend and Trevor Story isn't too far behind. At the end of the day, the Rays are far superior in all areas of the game and the Red Sox have become an easy win on their schedule.
UPCOMING SERIES
The Red Sox will travel to Cleveland for a three game series with the Guardians. The Sox will open the series with left-hander James Paxton (1-1, 4.26 ERA) on the mound on Tuesday night. Cora hasn't announced what his rotation will look like for the remainder of the series but Kutter Crawford could earn a start and the Sox could add Matt Dermody for the series finale.
Duvall will also travel with the team to Cleveland and the expectation is he will be activated for the series in New York at the end of the week.