Tampa Bay Rays Win Again, Out to 12-0 Start After Beating Boston Red Sox
The Tampa Bay Rays are inching closer to history.
The Rays beat the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night, 9-7, and in doing so, moved to 12-0 to start the season.
It's the best start to a season for a major league team since the 1987 Brewers started out 13-0.
The Rays, who lead the league in home runs, wasted no time in this one as Randy Arozarena hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning off of Chris Sale. He had four RBI on the night and is now hitting .319 with three home runs.
The Red Sox got one back in the top of the fourth inning to make it 3-1 before the Rays extended the lead again in the bottom half of the inning. Yandy Diaz hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 and a Wander Franco double made it 6-1.
But Boston would mount another comeback, pulling to within 6-3 in the top of the fifth when Enrique Hernandez doubled home a run and Alex Verdugo singled in a run.
The Rays went up 8-3 in the fifth but then things got interesting once again as Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh off reliever Collin Poche. That made it 8-7. The Rays would add an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and Pete Fairbanks closed out the victory with his second save of the year.
For Tampa, prospect Taj Bradley made his major league debut, tossing five innings and allowing three runs. He struck out eight and walked just one.
The Rays will look to tie the record tomorrow when these two teams wrap up their four-game series at 1:10 p.m. ET.
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