FINAL: Red Sox 7, Rays 3 - Casas hits go-ahead homer; Bello recovers from bad start

WHO: Red Sox (71-66) at Rays (83-54)
WHEN: 4:10 p.m. 
WHERE: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.
SERIES TO DATE: Tampa leads, 7-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Aaron Civale (7-3, 2.64 ERA) vs. RHP Bryan Bello (10-8, 3.57 ERA) 
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUP

RED SOX

Abreu CF
Devers 3B 
Turner DH 
Casas 1B
Duvall RF
Yoshida LF 
Story SS
McGuire C
Urías 2B
Bello SP

RAYS 

Lowe, J RF
Raley CF
Arozarena LF
Lowe, B 2B
Ramírez DH
Aranda 1B
Basabe 3B
Bruján SS
Bethancourt C
Civale SP 

PRE-GAME NOTES 

The Red Sox have claimed RHP Logan Gillaspie from Baltimore and assigned him to Triple-A Worcester. To make room on 40-man, OF Jarren Duran (toe) transferred to 60-day IL.

OF Alex Verdugo is out of the lineup with hamstring tightness that forced him out of Sunday's win at Kansas City. Alex Cora told reporters pre-game that Verdugo will also likely sit on Tuesday, with a Wednesday return the best-case scenario and Friday most likely at home against Baltimore. 

Boston will try to break a 13-game losing streak at Tropicana Field that dates back to April of 2022. 

Top prospects Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony are both set to join Double-A Portland for the last two weeks of the minor league season.

WHAT'S UP 

The Red Sox have won back-to-back games following a season-high-tying 5-game losing streak....The Sox are 10-10 in their last 20 games....At 71-66 (.518), Boston is tied with the Twins, who lead the AL Central, for MLB’s 12th-best record...Yesterday marked Alex Cora’s 433rd win as manager of the Red Sox, breaking a tie with John Farrell (432) for sole possession of 6th place on Boston’s all-time managerial wins list (5th: Jimmy Collins-455)...The only people to manage 500+ Red Sox games and post a better winning percentage than Cora’s .552 mark are Don Zimmer (.575) and Terry Francona (.574)...Cora’s .552 winning percentage ranks 4th among active managers, trailing Dave Roberts (.630), Aaron Boone (.586), and Brian Snitker (.560)... Three Red Sox players rank in the AL’s top 10 in OPS (Casas, Devers, Turner), more than any other team... Boston has 3 qualified players with at least a .350 OBP and .800 OPS (Casas, Turner, Yoshida)...The other team with 3 such players is LAD (Betts, Freeman, Smith)...The Red Sox tonight begin a stretch of 13 consecutive games against AL East teams, facing each divisional opponent over the stretch (3 at TB, 3 vs. BAL, 4 vs. NYY, 3 at TOR)...19 of the Sox’ 25 remaining games will be against AL East opponents (BAL-7, TB-5, NYY-4, TOR-3)...The Red Sox are 19-14 against AL East teams this season (6-4-0 in series), after going 26-50 in 2022 (6-17-1 in series)...The Red Sox’ next 2 series will be against the teams with the best records in the AL (TB, BAL)...18 of the Sox’ remaining 25 games will be against teams that currently have a winning record (BAL-7, TB-5, TEX-3, TOR-3).... BOS is 36-39 against teams with a current record of .500 or better, and 35-27 against teams below .500...The Red Sox are 15-8 in RHP Bryan Bello's starts (5-2 in his last 7, 10-4 in his last 14)...Leads Sox starters in ERA (3.57)...Owns a 2.79 ERA in his last 5 starts (9 ER/29.0 IP)...Leads Red Sox pitchers in wins (10), starts (23), and innings (131.0)...The last pitcher to lead BOS in each of those categories was Eduardo Rodriguez in 2019; the last to do so in an age-24 season (or younger) was Roger Clemens in 1987...In each of his last 2 road starts, has thrown 6.0+ innings and allowed 1 run...In 5 starts vs. AL East teams in 2023, is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA (9 ER/31.0 IP)...The Sox have lost each of his 3 career starts against the Rays (0-2, 7.71 ERA)...Has struck out 23.6% of righties faced (.660 OPS) and 14.3% of lefties (.843 OPS)...Opponents are 20-for-118 (.169) with RISP, including 0-for-7 with the bases loaded...