Rays beat Red Sox 8-4 as Junior Caminero homers, Yandy Díaz collects 1,000th hit

The Red Sox returned to Fenway Park riding their first three-game winning streak of the season, and despite battling back after falling behind early against the Rays, it wasn’t enough as Boston dropped a frustrating 8-4 decision to Tampa Bay, snapping its winning streak.

Making his second major league start, Jake Bennett worked around a Trevor Story fielding error in the first inning and finished the frame with an inning-ending double play.

The second inning proved far more difficult for the left-hander.

After recording a quick groundout, Bennett walked Jonny DeLuca, who promptly stole second base for his fifth steal of the season. Ben Williamson followed with a single to right field. Wilyer Abreu initially attempted a throw home before it was cut off by Willson Contreras.

Nick Fortes then ripped a double into the left-field corner, and with runners in scoring position, Cedric Mullins dropped down an RBI bunt to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-0.

Bennett also issued two walks in the inning, including one to light-hitting infielder Taylor Walls.

Working with the bases loaded, Bennett managed to get Yandy Díaz to fly out deep to center field, though another run crossed the plate to make it 3-0. He finally escaped the inning when Ryan Vilade popped out to Marcelo Mayer at second base.

In the bottom of the second inning, Story led off by ripping a 96.3 mph sinker down the third-base line. Rays third baseman Junior Caminero made a diving stop and initially threw Story out at first base.

Boston challenged the call, the replay revealed that Jonathan Aranda’s foot had come off the bag. Replay review showed Story beat the throw, overturning the call and giving the Red Sox a leadoff baserunner. 

The Red Sox began to apply pressure in the second inning after Story stole second base and Masataka Yoshida drew a walk.

Ceddanne Rafaela then smoked a ground ball to Caminero that kicked off the third baseman’s glove and rolled into left field, allowing Story to score and cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-1.

After Mayer grounded into a force out at second, Connor Wong hit what looked like it could have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Wong rushed the play after the ball struck him in the chest, flipping it over the head of second baseman Williamson, allowing another run to score and trimming the deficit to 3-2.

Boston kept the line moving when Caleb Durbin lined the 22nd pitch of the inning into right field off Rays opener Griffin Jax, tying the game at 3-3. Jax pitched four innings, allowing three runs (two earned), four hits and one walk while striking out three.

It capped off a productive second inning for the Red Sox, who quickly erased an early deficit after falling behind 3-0.

That resilience is beginning to become a trend for Boston. Earlier in the season, a quick deficit often felt insurmountable for the struggling offense. Lately, however, the Red Sox have shown an ability to respond and claw their way back into games.

“With Jake getting out of that (second) inning, us coming right back and responding, that was big,” said Chad Tracy. “We had really two good opportunities to score, and we did that, we want more but we got the runs in the (second) and the eighth, so we got runs on the board when we were supposed to, we just couldn’t keep them off the board.”

Outside of the three-run second inning, Bennett did his job and kept the Red Sox within striking distance.

The 6-foot-6 left-hander tossed 5 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs while walking two and striking out one.

Bennett’s lone strikeout came against the final batter he faced in the sixth inning, catching Aranda looking after Wong successfully used an ABS challenge.

The rookie threw 86 pitches, 52 for strikes, and generated five swings and misses. According to Baseball Savant, Bennett mixed 30 sinkers, 25 four-seam fastballs, 18 changeups, seven curveballs, and six cutters, with 39 of his pitches landing in the strike zone.

The Sox optioned Bennett back to Triple-A Worcester after the game. Jack Anderson is being recalled. 

Boston turned to Greg Weissert in relief, but the right-hander struggled in a key spot.

Weissert allowed a single to DeLuca before walking Williamson. Tampa Bay then countered by sending the speedy Chandler Simpson to pinch-hit for Fortes, and Simpson immediately delivered with a single into center field that plated two runs and pushed the Rays back in front, 5-3.

Weissert finished the outing allowing two hits, one earned run, and one walk. His ERA climbed to 5.52 and .311 opponent batting average in 17 outings (14 2/3 innings).

One a positive bullpen note, rookie left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego has not allowed a run in 13 2/3 innings.

In the seventh inning, the Rays recorded two quick outs before Wong hit a ground ball that deflected off Caminero’s glove and rolled into left field for a single. Boston, however, was unable to capitalize, as Durbin popped out on the infield to end the inning.

Tampa Bay added another insurance run in the eighth when Simpson tripled down the right-field line, scoring Williamson to extend the lead.

The Red Sox answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Jarren Duran led off with a double and advanced to third on a Contreras single to left. Contreras then made a costly mistake attempting to stretch the hit into a double and was thrown out at second base. 

“The throw home was a high one so I thought I had a chance to get to second base there,” Contreras said through translator Daveson Perez. “The catcher made a perfect throw to second base and got me out. But there was a chance to have runners on second and third with Wilyer (Abreu) up at the plate and I was a little bit aggressive there.”

One batter later, Abreu lifted a sacrifice fly to score Duran and trim the deficit to 6-4.

“I think if he’s always heads-up,” Tracy said about Contreras. “I think maybe he (was) not as far around the bag as you want to be to go. He knows it. He’s very frustrated with himself when he came in. He knows that. You want the heads-up awareness. The throw’s definitely high, but you maybe have to be a little further around the bag to go. But Willson knows that.”

Díaz recorded the 1,000th hit of his major league career with a ground-rule double over the head of Abreu in right field that bounced into Tampa Bay’s bullpen. Díaz became the 20th Cuban-born player to reach the milestone and later advanced to third on a bunt by Hunter Feduccia.

Caminero made up for his earlier defensive miscues in emphatic fashion in the ninth inning, crushing a 449-foot two-run homer off Ryan Watson to straightaway center field. The blast left his bat at 114 mph and marked his 10th home run of the season, extending Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-4.

Watson continues to struggle out of Boston’s bullpen. The Rule 5 pick allowed three runs on five hits over three innings while walking one and striking out two, raising his ERA to 6.56. Because of his Rule 5 status, the Red Sox must keep him on the 26-man roster or risk offering him back to his original organization.

Boston finished the night leaving three runners on base while going 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox drew just one walk and struck out five times, with Story accounting for two of those strikeouts.

The Rays have now gone 23-7 over their last 30 games, while the Red Sox fell to 6-5 under Tracy.

Boston will look to bounce back Friday night in the second game of the four-game series at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Left-hander Connelly Early (2-2, 3.79 ERA) is expected to start for the Red Sox opposite Rays right-hander Jesse Scholtens (3-1, 3.18 ERA).

Red Sox Place Roman Anthony on IL

The Red Sox are placing outfielder Roman Anthony on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right wrist, Tracy told reporters on Thursday. 

Boston will recall Mickey Gasper from Triple-A Worcester to take Anthony’s spot on the 26-man roster. 

Anthony left the Red Sox’ win on Monday night in Detroit in the second inning after feeling pain in his hand/wrist when he swung and fouled off a pitch in his first at-bat. 

The Sox sent Anthony back to Boston to see a hand specialist this past Tuesday, and it was confirmed that the outfielder was dealing with a wrist sprain. Anthony went on to add that he sprained a ligament below the ring finger. His IL stint is retroactive to Tuesday, and Anthony expects to be ready when he’s eligible to be activated on May 15. 

“For me, where I stand right now, how it’s gone on and the way it’s felt over the last few days, when the IL stint is over I plan to be in that game the next day,” Anthony said.

Anthony is feeling better and doesn’t expect the issue to linger and called the injury “nothing too serious.”

“Obviously not where I want to be but just gotta keep getting better every day,” Anthony said.

“I’ve never dealt with a hand issue before, so I think just getting the news back, understanding that it’s nothing very serious is the best news that we could have gotten,” Anthony said.

Anthony has not swung a bat since the injury occurred this week and has not participated in any baseball activities since he was removed from the game on Monday night. 

“We’re still optimistic that hopefully it’s not too long, but we’ll keep seeing how he responds,” Tracy said.

The new Sox interim skipper said that nothing changed regarding Anthony’s injury that led them to placing him on the IL. 

“More a case of how long are we going to play shorthanded? Which we’ve already done it for two days,” Tracy said.

Anthony has gotten off to a slow start this season, but he had been beginning to heat up offensively before he got hurt. This season, he’s hitting just .229 with a .675 OPS in 30 games. He had started the month of May with five hits in his first 13 at-bats. 

“I want to be out there with the guys. Obviously, I’m happy that they just got the job done, got a great sweep,” Anthony said. “I think the team, we look great. For me, it was frustrating. I started to feel good in the box, started to really settle in and you never want things like that to happen. But it’s part of it. So I just got to get better as fast as I can and do what I can to get back out there with the guys.”

Why Mickey Gasper?

The Red Sox added Gasper from Triple-A Worcester to take Anthony’s spot on the 26-man roster. 

Boston had options outside of Gasper in Nate Eaton and Nick Sogard but liked Gasper’s ability to be a switch-hitter, offering the potential to pinch hit from the left side against right-handed pitchers late in games.

“He’s just a really, really quality at-bat from both sides of the plate, but particularly from the left side of the plate,” Tracy said. “He’s got some power. He hits to all fields. He doesn’t strike out much. He puts the ball in play. You want him up there in big spots.”

Gasper returns to the Red Sox after initially being penciled into Worcester’s lineup Thursday night. The switch-hitter has been swinging a hot bat for the WooSox, hitting .296 with six home runs and six doubles in 28 games.

“I think the big piece for me ... is just having that left-handed bat off the bench if you find a spot late in the game to use it,” Tracy said.

With Anthony on the IL, Yoshida will benefit from more playing time and will see more time as a DH. 

“(Gasper is) a nice logical fit with Masa in the lineup more now, whereas we can fill that void on the bench and have a bat for us off the bench, which is helpful,” Tracy said.