FINAL: Rays 2, Red Sox 0 - Boston Held to One Hit in Loss

The Red Sox fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 on Thursday night at Tropicana Field in the rubber game of the series. Boston was held to one hit for the first time this season. As a team, the Red Sox hit .179. The Red Sox finished this road trip with a 2-5 record. For September, Boston has a .219 batting average while scoring only 3.4 runs a game and 173 strikeouts. 

The game's story was Zack Littell going seven scoreless innings for the Rays while giving up only one hit, walking none and striking out seven. It is worth noting that Boston acquired him from the Texas Rangers on May 5th, 2023, and then added him to the 40-man active roster the next day. Littell played in two games and allowed three runs in 3 innings before he was designated for assignment on May 10th. Tamp Bay claimed him off waivers and came into tonight with a 3.81 ERA  in 53 outings and 41 starts over two seasons with the Rays.

 The lone hit for the Red Sox tonight came on a Nick Sogard two-out single in the third inning. Boston has now gone 22-35 since the All-Star break. 

The two Tampa Bay runs come on a Brandon Lowe third-inning sacrifice fly and a Dylan Carlson RBI groundout in the seventh. 

Brayan Bello went 5.2 innings while giving up one run, striking out seven and walking two. 

The Red Sox will begin a three-game weekend series back at Fenway Park tomorrow night with the Minnesota Twins as Richard Fitts will get the start at 7:10 p.m. 

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WHO: Red Sox (76-76) at Tampa Bay Rays (74-78)
WHEN: 6:50 p.m.
WHERE: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.
SERIES TO DATE: 5-4 (1-3/4-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Brayan Bello (14-7, 4.60) vs. RHP Zack Littell (7-9, 3.73)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
LIVE BOX
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Duran CF
Devers 3B
O'Neill LF
Yoshida DH
Story SS
Casas 1B
Jansen C
Abreu RF
Sogard 2B

SP Brayan Bello 

RAYS
Carlson LF
B. Lowe 2B
Diaz DH
Aranda 1B
J. Lowe RF
Caballero 3B
Rortvedt C
Walls SS
Siri CF

SP Zack Littell

WHAT'S UP
The Red Sox are 2-4 so far on their 7-game road trip to NYY (1-3) and TB (1-1), after going 4-2 on a 6-game homestand vs. CWS (2-1) and BAL (2-1).

Trevor Story last night hit a game-tying solo HR in the 6th inning...In the 8th inning, he singled, stole 2nd base and 3rd base, then scored the go-ahead run on Jarren Duran's RBI single. It was Story's 1st career game with a HR and multiple SB...He's the 3rd Red Sox player this season to do so (4th instance), joining  Duran (8/4 at TEX and 6/19 at TOR) and David Hamilton (8/4 at TEX).

The Red Sox are 14-6 in rubber games this season, winning 4 of their last 5.

In their last 22 games, beginning 8/26, Red Sox starting pitchers rank 2nd in the AL and 4th in MLB with a 2.72 ERA (35 ER/116.0 IP). Sox starting pitchers have allowed 2 runs or fewer in 5 of their last 7 games, 9 of their last 11, and 17 of their last 22.

Red Sox pitchers have recorded 10+ SO in each of the last 3 games (33 total SO), tying their 2nd longest such streak of 2024 (season-long 5 G, 3/29-4/2).           The Sox have posted a 3.25 ERA (22 ER/61.0 IP) in their last 7 games, allowing 3 runs or fewer in 4 of those games.

The Red Sox have won 4 of their 5 games at Tropicana Field this season after losing 15 of their previous 16 games at the venue (1-6 in 2023, 1-10 in 2022).

The Sox' 3-game sweep from 5/20-22 marked their 1st series victory at Tropicana Field since 2019, when they won back-to-back series in April and July.

 The last season in which Boston won each of its series in St. Petersburg was 2013 (3-0-0).

Boston reinstated RHP Lucas Sims from the 15-Day IL and optioned LHP Bailey Horn to Triple-A Worcester.