Roman Anthony’s two-run double and Trevor Story’s mammoth solo blast lead Red Sox to 3-1 victory over Rays

After making his Major League debut on Monday, Roman Anthony returned to work on Tuesday, accompanied by his family in the stands, highlighting why he is considered the game's top prospect.

The 21-year-old rookie’s bat and glove helped give the Red Sox a 3-1 win over the Rays on Tuesday night. Anthony collected his first big league hit in the first inning off Ryan Pepiot. After falling down in the count 0-2, he crushed a changeup into left field for a two-run double. In the sixth inning, he made a terrific sliding catch in right field, robbing Jonathan Aranda of a hit.

Anthony finished the game 1-for-4 with two RBI, with his family sitting right near the dugout to support him in his second game in the bigs. He has driven in three runs over his first two games in the majors. 

The Florida native is the youngest player in Red Sox history to record three or more RBI in his first two games at 21 years old.

“It was awesome; that group out there has been with me every step of the way,” Anthony said following the game. “Just to see them here, they had to miss yesterday, unfortunately, because it was kind of quick notice, but having them here was special for sure.”

It wasn’t only Anthony who helped lead the Red Sox to a win on Tuesday. Boston benefited from an excellent start from Lucas Giolito, and Trevor Story belted a towering solo blast over the Green Monster.

After a disastrous start against the Angels, the Red Sox needed Giolito to rebound, and he answered the challenge. The righty held the Rays' offense to just one unearned run off three hits while walking three and striking out four over six frames.

Two of the three hits allowed by Giolito went off the gloves of the Red Sox defenders. Rays infielder José Caballero was credited with a single in the second inning when his liner to left field clipped the glove of Jarren Duran as he slid trying to make the play.

Tampa Bay plated their first run of the game in the fifth with two on and two out. Yandy Díaz ripped a liner up the middle where Kristian Campbell attempted to make a play on it, leaping but only got a piece of his glove on the ball. He was able to prevent a second run from scoring on the play but was unable to complete the inning-ending catch.

Giolito got some defensive support off of Anthony’s sliding catch in right and from Ceddanne Rafaela, who tracked down a 399-foot fly ball that would have been a homer in 17 big league parks for the out.

He did make an error on a pickoff play in the fifth inning, which was the 10th error by a Sox pitcher this year. Brennan Bernardino is tied for the MLB lead in errors with four. 

It marked the second consecutive night that a Red Sox starting pitcher completed six innings, and it was the first time Boston had a starter go back-to-back six-plus innings in starts since May 10-11.

“As a rotation, we’ve been working really hard,” Giolito said. “It can’t just be all (Garrett) Crochet carrying the rotation; we’ve all been working hard and doing what we need to do to be able to help. I think it’s important that no matter who is taking the mound that day, we all have confidence we’re going to get a good performance and put us into position to win.”

Giolito has made nine career starts against the Rays and has posted a 2.43 ERA, and his teams are 7-2 in those nine games. He has also pitched at least six innings in four of his eight starts this season, all quality starts, with his last coming on May 24 in the second game of the doubleheader with the Orioles.

“Two for two in this series. Hopefully we can do it again tomorrow,” Alex Cora said. “To get the lead is important at this level; you can use the bullpen after that however you want, and it’s tough to come back. It’s like 65% of the games we’ve been behind, so it was great.”

Story helped extend the Sox’ lead to 3-1 in the sixth after he crushed a 398-foot homer deep over the Green Monster. His ninth blast chased Pepiot from the game. The Rays hurler allowed three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.

“We needed that run at the end; that was a great at-bat,” Cora said. “He fouled off some tough pitches and got one that he was able to handle and hit it out of the ballpark.”

Story has been improving at the plate over the last four games, recording multiple hits in each of those games.

The bullpen was able to keep the lead intact and help Giolito secure the win. Garrett Whitlock threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He needed just 13 pitches in a 1-2-3 seventh, then nine pitches in the eighth inning before giving the ball to Greg Weissert.

Closer Aroldis Chapman was unavailable after pitching three straight games, which gave way for Cora to have Weissert earn his first save of the season and the second of his career. He faced the heart of the Rays' lineup and set them down in order.

For the Red Sox, they have won three of their last four games and four of their last six. The win of Tuesday night was the 12th game this season; Boston allowed one run or fewer, with their last coming on June 1 versus the Braves.

The Red Sox will look to win the series with Walker Buehler (4-4, 5.18 ERA) on the mound. He’s hoping to rebound from a clunker of a start last Friday against the Yankees on the road. Buehler will be opposed by former Red Sox pitcher Zach Littell (6-5, 3.68 ERA), with the first pitch set for 7:10 p.m.