David Peralta doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Rays opened a three-game series Monday by rallying past the visiting Boston Red Sox 4-3 at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Manuel Margot and Peralta each had two hits for the Rays, who won for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Alex Verdugo had a home run among his two hits for the Red Sox, while Rafael Devers reached base three times as Boston saw its five-game winning streak come to and.
The Rays trailed 3-2 in the seventh inning against Red Sox reliever Jeurys Familia (2-2) when Manuel Margot sliced an RBI double to right-center. The hit scored pinch hitter Vidal Brujan, who was hit by a pitch and stole second base to lead off the seventh.
Two batters later against Boston’s Zack Kelly, the Peralta kept a grounder just inside the first-base bag to send home Margot with the go-ahead run.
Brujan left the game in the ninth after being spiked by Verdugo at second base, but Pete Fairbanks struck out Xander Bogaerts looking with a 99-mph fastball to notch his fifth save. Bogaerts already had delivered his ninth-consecutive multi-hit game.
Reliever Calvin Faucher (2-3) was one of five Rays pitchers who combined to strikeout 13 Boston batters, while picking up the win with a scoreless inning. Rays starter Luis Patino allowed three runs and five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Two of his three walks came around to score.
Red Sox starter Michael Wacha gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Verdugo’s first-inning home run against Patino was his ninth of the season to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. The Rays answered by stringing together three hits in the bottom of the first, including an RBI single from Harold Ramirez.
The Red Sox grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third inning on Devers’ RBI single to center and Trevor Story’s run-scoring double to left. Both Tommy Pham and Verdugo scored after they reached base on walks from Patino.
Randy Arozarena’s RBI double off the wall in the fifth cut the Rays’ deficit to 3-2.
–Field Level Media