Brett Sullivan‘s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie, and snapped the Tampa Bay Rays’ five-game spring losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox Monday at Charlotte Sports Park.
Sullivan, pinch-hitting for Mike Zunino, brought in Tristan Gray, who led off the inning against Josh Taylor with a base hit, moving to second on a walk to Miles Mastrobuoni and taking third on a fielder’s choice grounder from Garrett Whitley.
Tampa Bay originally took a first-inning lead two batters into the game when Brandon Lowe‘s RBI single scored Randy Arozarena.
Minor-leaguer Joe Ryan worked a scoreless top of the first, but Boston was able to get to reliever Hunter Strickland in the second, as Michael Chavis hit a solo home run to tie the game, and after Strickland loaded the bases, a fielding error by Yandy Diaz gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay tied the game in the fifth off Hirokazu Sawamura, who loaded the bases with nobody out, but after striking our Arozarena and Lowe, walked Diaz to force in a run.
Shane McClanahan struck out the side in his only inning of work, and Josh Fleming allowed just one hit in two innings of work. Pete Fairbanks earned the win pitching a scoreless sixth, and Ryan Thompson worked a scoreless seventh. David Hess and Kenny Rosenberg each allowed a pair of hits, but no runs to end the game.
The Rays will host the Baltimore Orioles at Charlotte Sports Park Tuesday, with Ryan Yarbrough (0-0, 0.00 ERA) starting against Felix Hernandez (0-1, 9.64 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
Notes
After the game, Rosenberg was reassigned to minor-league camp, joining nine other minor-leaguers who were reassigned prior to the contest.
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.
