Red Sox rally but can’t avoid being swept by the Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For seven innings, it appeared the Red Sox were headed for one of their worst losses in recent history as Rays righthander Drew Rasmussen struck out one hitter after another.
Then the Sox rallied, bringing the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning. Suddenly, they had a chance at a memorable victory.
In the end, it was just another loss in an increasingly long line of them, 7-5, before a matinee crowd of 16,504 at Tropicana Field.
A 1-4 road trip left the Sox with five losses in their last six games as the Rays completed a three-game sweep. At 27-39, they are already a whopping 13½ games out of first place in the American League East.
“It just wasn’t a really good day for us,” said Ceddanne Rafaela, whose three-run homer in the eighth inning created a sliver of hope that quickly vanished.
The postgame clubhouse was despondent, players staring into their lockers or engrossed in their phones as attendants packed up equipment for the flight back to Boston.
That the Sox are off on Thursday was the one sliver of good news.
“I think it will probably be good for everybody to have a breather,” interim manager Chad Tracy said.
The Sox were alarmingly uncompetitive against Rasmussen, who allowed two singles over seven shutout innings and struck out 13 with one walk.
The first four hitters in the order — Jarren Duran, Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, and Willson Contreras — were 0 for 11 with 11 strikeouts.
Only Contreras, who was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, reached base against Rasmussen.
Rasmussen (6-2) is a tough matchup for any team because of how effectively he uses three variations of the fastball. He has a four-seamer, a sinker, and a cutter, plus a 90-m.p.h. changeup that serves as an off-speed pitch.
He’s a good pitcher with strikeout stuff,” Tracy said. “We definitely went out of the [strike] zone a little much.”
To that point, the 13 strikeouts were a career high for Rasmussen. His previous high this season was nine.
The Sox countered Rasmussen with rookie lefthander Jake Bennett, who was recalled from Triple-A Worcester to make the start. He allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings.
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Leading, 1-0, the Rays scored three runs in the fifth inning. Nick Fortes doubled and Taylor Walls singled before Yandy Díaz singled in a run.
Austin Slater then hit a ball up the middle that deflected off Bennett’s left foot and rolled into left field.
The Sox were slow chasing the ball down and Walls scored as Diaz went to third. A sacrifice fly by Ryan Vilade made it 4-0.
“Played a good baseball team, they capitalized,” Bennett said.
The Rays took a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning and the game appeared to be over. But Rasmussen was done after 97 pitches, and the Sox rebounded against Tampa Bay’s bullpen.
Caleb Durbin homered to left field off Cole Sulser. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then drew a walk. Facing Steven Matz, Duran singled, and Rafaela followed with a 395-foot homer to left field, his sixth of the season.
Hope vanished in the bottom of the inning when light-hitting Cedric Mullins belted a two-run homer to right field off Justin Slaten.
Garrett Cleavinger pitched the ninth inning for the Rays and picked up his second save despite allowing a two-out homer by Durbin. It was the first multi-home run game of his career.
With two outs, Kiner-Falefa was called out on strikes by umpire Jim Wolf. He challenged the call, and it was overturned. That gave Andruw Monasterio a shot to extend the game, but he struck out swinging.
The Sox struck out 15 times, matching their season high. Fortes finished 4 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
That the Sox had a chance to steal the game after trailing by five runs wasn’t much consolation.
“We put ourselves in position again to win, and it just didn’t happen,” Rafaela said.
The Sox are 17-22 under Tracy. The Sox hoped firing Alex Cora would spark a change, and it hasn’t happened.
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“We need wins right now,” Tracy said.
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