Brandon Lowe homered and drove in a pair, and Luis Patino allowed just one run while pitching into the sixth, as the Tampa Bay Rays earned their eighth straight win with a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox Monday at Tropicana Field.
Lowe didn’t waste any time giving the Rays the lead, as he swung at Boston starter Nick Pivetta’s first pitch and blasted it off the batters eye in center for his 31st home run of the season and his third career leadoff homer.
Boston tied the game in the top of the second on a solo homer by Bobby Dalbec, but that would be all Boston’s bats would get off Tampa Bay pitching, with Patino (4-3) pitching into the sixth.
The Rays took the lead for good in the bottom of the third, as Lowe drew a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch by Pivetta, took third two batters later on a Franco groundout, and scored on an Austin Meadows base hit.
Tampa Bay added their first insurance run on an inning later with Kevin Kiermaier doubling off Pivetta with two outs, taking third on a wild pitch in Mike Zunino’s strikeout which allowed the catcher to reach and extend the inning, and coming home when Brandon Lowe’s chopper got over Dalbec’s head at first base, and into shallow right for a base hit.
Pivetta would leave two batters into the sixth, allowing both Kiermaier and Zunino to reach. Reliever Hansel Robles walked Brandon Lowe to load the bases, and an error by Rafael Devers on a Nelson Cruz ground ball allowed Kiermaier to score and make it 4-1.
Franco, who came in to Monday night’s game with a streak of reaching base safely in 29 consecutive games, waited until the bottom of the eighth and his fifth time at the plate to extend his streak, but his two-run single off Raynel Espinal set the score at 6-1.
The win is Tampa Bay’s eighth straight, and makes the Rays 35 games over .500 for the first time in franchise history.
The Rays and Red Sox will clash for game two of the series Tuesday night. Ryan Yarbrough (7-4, 4.57 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay, while Boston has yet to determine who will be available to start for them. 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.
