Over the past few weeks, the Boston Red Sox have continued to give fans reasons to buy in after a slow start to the season. Their latest win – a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night – was the loudest call for attention so far.
There was already buzz going into the game. The Sox had won seven in a row, giving them the longest active winning streak in Major League Baseball. Friday night also marked the return of third baseman Alex Bregman, who had missed almost two months with a calf injury.
Despite that the Red Sox fell behind early. Starting pitcher Hunter Dobbins, also returning from the IL, suffered a knee injury in the second inning forcing the team to dig deep into its bullpen. Brennan Bernardino helped stretch things out throwing 2.1 innings, but a sloppy third from him and the defense behind him allowed the Rays to get up 4-1.
The Red Sox were able to get back in the game in the bottom of the fourth, sparked by an RBI double by Marcelo Mayer. That put them within a run. However from the fifth to the eighth inning, the team managed just two combined hits.
After some strong defense in the top of the ninth, Mayer recorded a quick out in the bottom half. Fellow rookie Romany Anthony then pinch hit for Abraham Toro, and drew a walk. That set the stage for Ceddanne Rafaela, who has regularly come up clutch for the Red Sox in recent weeks, to do so again. Rafaela did just that, blasting a walk-off home run over the Green Monster on a 1-2 count to seal the eighth win in a row for the Red Sox.
With that home run and a single earlier in the game, Rafaela drove in three of the Sox’s five runs on the night. The other RBIs came from Mayer and Toro. Along with Rafaela, Trevor Story had a multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a run scored, and also drew a walk.
In total the Red Sox used seven pitchers in this game. Chris Murphy was credited with the win after throwing a hitless top of the ninth. It’s his second win of the year, improving his record to 2-0. Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, who allowed the home run to Rafaela, was tagged with both a blown save and the loss.
It’s a quicker turnaround for the Red Sox as they look to stretch the winning streak to nine games, with an afternoon matchup against the Rays tomorrow at Fenway. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET with ace Garrett Crochet on the mound.
