ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Prior to the game Wednesday night, Rob Refsnyder glanced at a TV in the visitors clubhouse.
MLB Network aired a segment making note that the Red Sox had a chance to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field for the first time since April 2019.
“‘Shoot, I didn’t know it’d been that long,’” Refsndyer said.
So long, in fact, that Alex Cora was in his second year as a big-league manager. Dave Dombrowski was still chief baseball officer in Boston. Rafael Devers is the only player left on the current roster from that 2019 team.
There’s been plenty of change over the past six seasons, but one constant has been how tough the Rays have been for the Red Sox. Since the start of 2019, the Red Sox have gone 31-56 against the Rays, their most losses to any team in that span.
It was against that backdrop, the Red Sox triumphantly walked off the field Wednesday with an important 8-5 win.
“It’s a tough place to play and all that, but we’ve have our battles against them, they’ve been better than us, that’s the bottom line,” Cora said of the Red Sox play in recent years against Tampa Bay. “It’s cool to come here and win but we expect to pitch with them.
“We’re different than in the past and I’m just glad we won the series.”
There’s no telling if this series will be the one that propels the Red Sox into more consistency at the plate to match their strong pitching, but there were plenty of good signs. One of the biggest differences? Hitting with runners in scoring position.
Entering the series, the Red Sox were at the bottom of the league in the month of May, hitting .185 with 88 strikeouts with runners in scoring position. In three games in Tampa, the Red Sox went 11-for-23 in such situations, capitalizing with big hits and aggressive base running.
Over the course of the series, the Red Sox got contributions up and down the lineup, using an athletic style of play that’s served them well.
On Monday, Rafael Devers and Ceddanne Rafaela had key homers.
On Tuesday, Jarren Duran tied the game with a homer and Wilyer Abreu’s single pushed ahead the go-ahead run.
On Wednesday, Connor Wong slapped a clutch two-run single to tie the game and Refsnyder single to give the Red Sox the lead.
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“In this business, everybody wants to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Certain moments, you’ve got to put the ball in play and we did,” Cora said. “We put pressure on them. We ran the bases extremely well today. But the value of putting the ball in play was huge today. We’re gonna keep preaching that.”
Like on Tuesday, the Red Sox battled from behind after an early deficit. The Rays jumped on Red Sox starter Brayan Bello in the second inning after Bello issued a leadoff walk to Isaac Paredes. Jonathan Aranda doubled to deep right before José Caballero hit a two-run single. Yandy Díaz followed with a ground out to first, scoring a third run as Bello searched for command of his change up.
He settled down over the next two innings before the offense kicked into gear in the fifth.
David Hamilton got the Red Sox started with a leadoff walk and a stolen base. Rays starter Ryan Pepiot then hit Vaughn Grissom to put two on. Rafaela followed with a deep fly to left field that dropped in, scoring Hamilton, but Grissom only advanced to second on a bad read of the ball. The Rays turned to lefty reliever Richard Lovelady and Duran struck out in the next at-bat .
Grissom’s bad read and Duran’s strikeout represented a series of plays that might have stalled momentum for the Red Sox earlier in the season. Rather that pinch-hit for Abreu with the lefty on the mound, Cora took his chances and opted to leave Abreu in. The outfielder rewarded his manager with a hustle play, beating out an infield single to short to load the bases. Wong promptly smacked a single to left, scoring two runs to tie the game. Refsnyder then added a single to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead and Dominic Smith plated another run for insurance.
“This is how it should be,” Cora said. “We will hit the ball out of the ballpark with certain guys, but the other guys will take their walks, they’ll get their singles, and they’ll put pressure on the opposition.”
Bello returned with a quick, six-pitch fifth inning and the Red Sox added three more runs in the sixth.
Rafaela reached on an error to lead off the inning and scored on a double from Duran, who extended his hitting streak to eight games. Of Duran’s 11 hits in the streak, nine have gone for extra bases. Meanwhile, Duran has started each of the team’s first 50 games. The last player to start as many as 50 straight games to begin a season for the Red Sox was Dustin Pedroia in 2013.
Abreu added a two-run homer in the sixth for good measure.
After his rocky second inning, Bello finished the night with three runs allowed on four hits and four walks while striking out six over six innings.
Last week, the Rays took three of four from the Red Sox at Fenway Park, though none of the games was decided by more than two runs. Rather than fold after early deficits in each of the last two games, the Red Sox stayed patient and it paid off.
“It’s just trying not to get too emotional early in the game if things aren’t going our way,” Refsndyer said. “Just trying to have competitive at-bats, the guys did a really good job all series just kind of hanging in there. The starting pitching kept us in there.”
The Red Sox may only be 26-24 through 50 games, but those 26 wins are tied for sixth among American League teams. They’ll surely need more series like this one in Tampa and have a tough match this weekend against Milwaukee, but they head home after a successful 4-2 road trip.
(Photo of Ayber and Duran celebrating Aybar’s home run: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
2024-05-23 04:11:26
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