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GameDay Preview: Sizzling Rays Make First Trip To Fenway To Take on Red Sox Monday

The Tampa Bay Rays are on a three-game winning streak and their bats seem to finally be heating up. They travel to Fenway Park for the first time this season, taking on the Boston Red Sox in a Monday afternoon game on the Fourth of July.
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BOSTON, Mass. — For the first time all season, the Tampa Bay Rays are in Fenway Park on Monday, opening a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox on the Fourth of July. 

It's looking like a bullpen day for both teams, with normal relievers Jalen Beeks starting for Tampa Bay and Austin Davis starting things off for the Red Sox. The game starts at 1:35 p.m.

This is the first time the Rays are visiting Fenway Park since they were eliminated from the postseason with back-to-back walk-off losses in Games 3-4 of the 2021 ALDS. That was a painful playoff exit for the Rays, who had won 100 games for the first time in team history and won the AL East for the second years in a row.

This year, the Rays are 2-1 against Boston on the year, winning the series from April 22-24 in St. Petersburg. The Rays went 11-8 last season against the Red Sox, and were 4-5 at Fenway during the regular season. 

The Rays are on a three-game winning streak, beating the Toronto Blue Jays twice on Saturday and again on Sunday. They scored 24 runs and had 41 hits in the three games. 

Here's everything you need to know about Monday's game:

How to watch Rays at Red Sox

  • Who: Tampa Bay Rays (43-36) at Boston Red Sox (44-35)
  • When: 1:35 p.m. ET, Monday, July 4
  • Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Mass.
  • TV: Bally Sports Sun
  • Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
  • Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Tricia Whitaker (reporter).
  • Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM, SiriusXM Channel 178 (Blue Jays announcers; Rays online)
  • Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
  • Latest line: The Blue Jays are favored at minus-135 on the money line in Game 1 according to the Fanduel.com website opening line as of Sunday morning. The Rays are plus-116. The over/under is 8.5.

Projected lineups

  • RAYS: Yandy Diaz 3B, Wander Franco SS, Ji-Man Choi 1B, Harold Ramirez RF,  Isaac Paredes 2B, Josh Lowe RF, Randy Arozarena LF,  Francisco Mejia C, Brett Phillips CF, Jalen Beeks P.
  • RED SOX: Jarren Duran CF, Rafael Devers 3B, J.D Martinez DH, Christian Vazquez C, Alex Verdugo LF, Trevor Story 2B, Franchy Cordero RF, Christian Arroyo SS, Bobby Dalbec 1B, Austin Davis P.

Projected starting pitchers

  • JALEN BEEKS, Rays: Jalen Beeks has been the go-to ''opener'' lately when the Rays had to fill Drew Rasmussen's spot in the rotation, and the left-hander from Fayetteville, Ark., goes again Monday. He is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA on the season. This is his fifth start this season. His only other start at Fenway Park was in his major-league debut on June 7, 2018 against the Detroit Tigers.
  • AUSTIN DAVIS, Red Sox: Austin Davis has made 28 appearances for the Red Sox this season, but only one start. The 29-year-old left-hander from Scottsdale, Ariz., is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA. He has 32 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings of work. He pitched twice in the Rays-Red Sox series in late April at Tropicana Field, going one scoreless inning each day on April 22-23, allowing just one total hit.

Newsy nuggets

  • RALEY, THOMPSON RETURN: Now that the Rays are back on U.S. soil, unvaccinated relievers Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson are back with the. team. They were removed from the restricted list on Monday morning, and it's likely that both will see action on a bullpen day for the Rays. Tampa Bay  Phoenix Sanders and Javy Guerra back down. The Rays are keeping Sanders in Boston on the taxi squad, just in case.
  • FLEMING RETURNS: The Rays also made another move on Monday, recalling lefty Josh Fleming and optioning Cristofer Ogando, who made his major-league debut on Sunday. The Rays needed to make one other move to keep Ogando on the 40-man roster, so they moved J.P. Feyereisen (shoulder) to the  60-day injured list.
  • FENWAY RETURN: This is the first time the Rays have been to Fenway Park since losing last year's divisional round to the Red Sox. The two teams will play four games in St. Petersburg next week from July 11-14. The Rays are back in Boston Aug. 26-28 and close out the season at Fenway on Oct .3-5.
  • SERIES OPENER BLUES: The Rays are 2-9 in road series openers and have lost seven straight.
  • RAYS TAKE SERIES WITH 7-3 WIN: Tampa Bay's bats remained hot in a 7-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, blowing the game open with a six-run fifth inning, and led by home runs from Harold Ramirez, Ji-Man Choi and Randy Arozarena. CLICK HERE
  • RAYS SCORE 11 in GAME 2 WIN (Saturday): Five Tampa Bay hitters had multi-hit games and Drew Rasmussen made a solid return to the Rays' starting rotation in an 11-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night, sweeping the doubleheader. Isaac Paredes hit another home run, his 13th of the season, and catcher Francisco Mejia hit two home runs. CLICK HERE
  • McCLANAHAN SPARKLES IN GAME 1 (Saturday): Rays pitcher Shame McClanahan set a major-league record in the Rays' 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday doubleheader. He became the only pitcher in MLB history with 19 earned runs or fewer and at least 133 strikeouts thru 16 starts of a season. CLICK HERE
  • BLUE JAYS DOUBLE UP RAYS (Friday): Five doubles in the third inning, including one that bounced off the glove of Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, led to a 9-2 rout by the Toronto Blue Jays over the Rays on Friday, their fourth straight loss, matching the longest longest streak of the season. CLICK HERE
  • FILL-IN YARBROUGH ROUGHED UP: Struggling lefty Ryan Yarbrough was an emergency call-up from Triple-A Durham, filling in for Jeffrey Springs, who couldn't make the trip to Toronto because of a family medical issue. Yarbrough gave up two home runs in the 4-1 loss, the first of five games in four days north of the border. CLICK HERE
  • NO RALEY, THOMPSON IN CANADA: Unvaccinated athletes are not allowed to travel in and out of Canada, so that means Tampa Bay Rays relievers Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson, who have chosen to not get the COVID-19 vaccines, did not make the trip. They'll be missed in a series where the Rays play five games in four days. CLICK HERE
  • RAYS SCHEDULE: Here is the complete schedule for the 2022 Tampa Bay Rays season, including dates and game times, and results of all games played thus far. CLICK HERE
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