Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer, and Manuel Margot added an RBI single to once again support another strong pitching performance and help power the Tampa Bay Rays to a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-2 victory in Sunday’s finale.
Tampa Bay’s pitching was keyed by another strong start from left-hander Shane McClanahan, who allowed just a run on four hits and a pair of walks through the first six innings, striking out seven.
Rays’ bats had struggled against Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, who had given up just two hits and not allowed a run against Tampa Bay in 11 2/3 innings coming into Sunday’s contest. But that changed in the bottom of the third inning, when the right-hander walked #9 hitter Mike Zunino on four-pitches to turn the lineup over, and Brandon Lowe followed up with his 23rd home run of the season, a blast to right that made it 2-0.
Boston cut the lead in half in the fourth, when Hunter Renfroe got a fastball he could handle from McClanahan and blasted it over the center field fence for his 16th homer of the season.
Tampa Bay would get that insurance run back in the bottom of the fifth, as Wander Franco finished off a ten-pitch at-bat by singling to right. He took second on a wild pitch, and Manuel Margot brought him in with a base hit of his own for a 3-1 lead.
Drew Rasmussen, who took over for McClanahan in the seventh, allowed Boston to get back to within a run, as Alex Verdugo led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a fly ball to right by Kevin Plawecki that Margot made a leaping grab at the wall to secure, and after Bobby Dalbec struck out for the second out of the inning, scored on a wild pitch.
Rasmussen would escape the inning with the lead, and combined with left-hander Ryan Sherriff to put up a zero in the eighth. Matt Wisler allowed a pair of two-out singles to Enrique Hernandez and Rafael Devers in the ninth, but got J.D. Martinez to fly to shallow right to finish the game and earn his first save as a member of the Rays.
The win extends Tampa Bay’s lead in the American League East to a game and a half over the Red Sox, and at 64-42, they are tied with Houston for the best record in the American League.
The Seattle Mariners will come to Tropicana Field for a three-game series beginning Monday night, with Michael Wacha (2-2, 4.79 ERA) taking on Chris Flexen (9-5, 3.81 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
