The Tampa Bay Rays got strong pitching performances from Josh Fleming, Shane McClanahan, Nick Anderson, Hunter Strickland and Diego Castillo, while the middle of the Rays lineup drove in eight of the team’s eleven runs as they defeated the Boston Red Sox 11-3 Tuesday at Charlotte Sports Park.
Fleming allowed just an infield single and struck out one in two innings of work, and worked with a lead after Yandy Diaz‘s RBI single in the bottom of the first, scoring Brett Phillips, who doubled of Nick Pivetta to start the inning and moved to third on a groundout by Randy Arozarena.
McClanahan struck out the side in the third, and Anderson worked a perfect fourth in his first Grapefruit League outing of 2021.
The Rays added on in the hoe half of the fourth against Matt Hall, who walked Austin Meadows and Diaz to start the inning, Ji-Man Choi then singled in Meadows to make it 2-0, and Willy Adames made it 3-0 with a base hit of his own. A fielder’s choice grounder by Kevin Kiermaier plated Choi to push the lead to 4-0.
Tampa Bay added five more runs in the sixth thanks to an RBI single by Josh Lowe, a two-run double by Vidal Brujan, and a two-run single by Kevan Smith.
A bases loaded walk to Nathan Lukes in the seventh gave the Rays a double-digit lead, but Boston scored three times in the eighth off Yacksel Rios, with Jonathan Arauz driving in a pair with a base hit and Chad De la Guerra cutting the lead back to 10-3 with a RBI single.
Miles Mastrobuoni‘s RBI groundout in the eighth set the score at 11-3.
The Minnesota Twins make the trip up to Charlotte Sports Park Wednesday, with Luis Patino taking on Jose Berrios. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
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.
