Rays beat Red Sox 4-1 as Willson Contreras exits with hand injury; Mickey Gasper collects three hits

After Saturday’s rainout shortened the Red Sox and Rays series to three games, Boston returned to Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon for a Mother’s Day finale.

The Red Sox handed the ball to rookie left-hander Payton Tolle, who was taking the mound just two years after losing his mother, Jina, to colon cancer.

But there would be no Mother’s Day magic at Fenway.

Tampa Bay attacked Tolle early and never let up, tagging the rookie for three earned runs in a 4-1 victory over Boston.

Tolle opened the game by retiring the speedy Chandler Simpson on just two pitches, but trouble quickly followed.

One batter later, Junior Caminero crushed a 404-foot solo homer into the Green Monster seats. The blast, Caminero’s 11th of the season, left his bat at 105.2 mph and came on an 0-2 curveball that caught too much of the plate at 85.1 mph.

In the bottom of the first inning, Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras was hit in the hand by a pitch from Rays starter Nick Martinez.

Contreras initially remained in the game after being checked on by the training staff, but he did not return defensively in the second inning and was replaced at first base by Andruw Monasterio.

Being hit by pitches is nothing new for the Red Sox slugger. Contreras is tied for the MLB lead with eight hit-by-pitches this season. Last year with the Cardinals, he finished third in the majors after being plunked 23 times. Over the course of his career, Contreras has been hit by 137 pitches, including a career-high 24 times in 2022 while with the Cubs.

The 33-year-old entered Sunday hitting .259 with eight home runs, four doubles, and 23 RBI.

In the second inning, Tolle allowed a leadoff single to Ryan Vilade that dropped in front of a charging Wilyer Abreu in right field. Abreu quickly fired the ball into the infield to Monasterio at first base, catching Vilade too far off the bag.

After a lengthy rundown, Monasterio chased Vilade back toward second and finished the play with a diving tag to erase the baserunner.

Mickey Gasper had been searching for his first hit in a Red Sox uniform.

Although the Bryant product recorded his first major league hit last season with the Twins, Gasper waited nearly two years to finally break through with Boston.

He collected that long-awaited hit in the bottom of the second inning, ripping a double off the Green Monster on a 93.4 mph sinker left up in the zone. The ball jumped off his bat at 95.6 mph.

Tampa Bay answered with another run in the third inning.

Nick Fortes singled to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Walls. Simpson then hit a weak chopper toward Trevor Story at shortstop. Instead of squaring his body in front of the ball, Story attempted to make the play off to his side and the ball deflected off his glove into left field.

The veteran shortstop was immediately met with boos from the Fenway crowd. The error snapped Story’s 20-game errorless streak and marked his fifth fielding error in just 36 games this season.

Fortes eventually scored on the play, and later in the inning Ben Williamson lined a single into right field to bring home Simpson and extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-0.

After setting the Rays down in order in the fifth inning, Chad Tracy went to the bullpen and lifted Tolle after five innings of work.

Tolle allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out four without issuing a walk. The only extra-base damage came on Caminero’s first-inning homer. The rookie threw 81 pitches, 60 for strikes, and generated 12 swings and misses.

According to Baseball Savant, the lefty mixed 32 four-seam fastballs, 22 sinkers, 15 cutters, seven curveballs, and five changeups. His four-seamer averaged 96.4 mph and generated 22 swings during the outing. Tampa Bay collected three hits and two hard-hit balls against the heater, while also producing two hard-hit balls off his sinker.

Tracy went to right-hander Zack Kelly first and after walking Williamson to lead off the sixth inning, pinch-hitter Jonathan Aranda singled into right field to give Tampa Bay runners on the corners. Boston wrnt back to its bullpen, bringing in Tyler Samaniego, who has been lights out since making his big league debut, gave up a sacrifice bunt to Cedric Mullins that scored Williamson, to make it 4-0. 

Gasper came through again in the sixth inning. After Story doubled, his seventh this season, to left field, Gasper lined a run-scoring single into right field to extend Boston’s lead to 4-1.

Martinez, who entered with a 1.71 ERA, looked the part. He lasted 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run while scattering seven Red Sox hits.

Justin Slaten returned to the mound for the Sox after missing over a month while on the injured list after suffering a right oblique strain suffered on April 8. He worked a clean 1-2-3 seventh inning. A healthy Slaten would be a huge boost for the Red Sox bullpen, and could allow Tracy to slot guys in differently through the game. 

Gasper continued to swing a hot bat, leading off the frame with his second double of the game, tattooing the Green Monster off Rays’ Bryan Baker. Marcelo Mayer followed with a walk, giving the Sox two runners on with no one out. 

Ceddanne Rafaela, who has a flare of the dramatic hit, came to the plate as the tying run. The Gold Glove outfielder came into the game hitting .333 with runners in scoring position. He hit a swinging bunt to the third baseman and was ruled out at first base on a bang-bang play. The Sox would challenge but the call on the field remained. 

Jarren Duran up with two down was unable to deliver, ending any hope of a Mother’s Day comeback, flying out to Simpson in left field. 

Boston was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They left nine batters on base. 

The Red Sox will have Monday off giving Contreras a full day to see where things are at with his hand. Boston’s offense can’t afford to lose Contreras for any extended period of time.

Contreras has been Boston’s primary source of power and arguably the one hitter opposing pitchers truly fear in the lineup. If he were forced onto the injured list, he would become the second Red Sox hitter sidelined with a hand-related injury.

Roman Anthony is already on the injured list with a sprained right wrist after fouling off a pitch during his first at-bat last Monday night in Detroit.

Before landing on the IL, Anthony had started to show signs of heating up following a slow start to the season. Through 30 games, the outfielder was hitting .229 with a .675 OPS and had opened the month of May with five hits in his first 13 at-bats.

The Red Sox will welcome the Phillies to Boston for a three-game interleague series that begins Tuesday. All three games will start at 6:45 p.m. ET.

Boston will go with an opener and then Brayan Bello on Tuesday, Sonny Gray on Wednesday, and Ranger Suarez in the series finale on Thursday.