Red Sox drop finale, series to Rays after another poor hitting day
At the end of another day of unfulfilled offensive opportunities, the Red Sox lost, 4-1, to the Rays on Sunday afternoon.
The game didn’t feel as close as the score suggested. The Sox had plenty of scoring chances, including at least one base runner in each of the first six innings, but repeatedly failed to convert. They had one hit in 10 chances with a runner in scoring position, and they stranded nine men on base.
Their best chance came in the ninth, when Mickey Gasper (double) and Marcelo Mayer (walk) put two on with no outs — bringing the would-be tying run to the plate against Rays closer Bryan Baker. But Ceddanne Rafaela (strikeout), Caleb Durbin (groundout), and Jarren Duran (flyout) did no damage.
A lineup that looked at least a bat short entering the season — and now is missing Roman Anthony due to a wrist injury — played like it in the series finale against a division rival.
Duran, the leadoff hitter, recorded a hit for a third game in a row, upping his average to .194.
Masataka Yoshida, who couldn’t crack the lineup most days before Anthony got hurt but now bats fourth, contributed only a harmless single. He is 1-for-his-last-11.
Trevor Story drew boos from the Fenway Park crowd of 33,489 after his second and third strikeouts (with cheers for a double in between). He is batting .200 with a .520 OPS.
Altogether, the Sox have totaled 56 runs through 19 home games — their lowest-scoring, single-season, 19-game stretch at Fenway since the Green Monster was constructed in 1934.
Most of the missed chances came against righthander Nick Martinez, who gave up one run (seven hits) in 5⅔ innings. Gasper’s RBI single in the sixth foiled the shutout bid.
Gasper, in his first major league action of the year, had three of the Red Sox’ eight hits. Two of his were doubles.
Payton Tolle grinded through five innings, allowing three runs and seven hits — almost all of those baserunners in the first part of the outing before settling in for his final frames.
He struck out four and walked none.
The first run came in the first inning, when Tolle tried an 0-and-2 curveball that was actually well below the zone — just not low enough against Junior Caminero, who reached for and got it. It went over the Green Monster for a home run. Upon hearing bat meet ball, Tolle put his hands on his hips and looked at Caminero.
Tampa Bay struck for another pair in the third inning via a rally centered around an error by Story.
With one out and Nick Fortes on second, Chandler Simpson rolled a routine-looking ground ball to Story. It went off Story’s backhanded glove and rolled into left field for an error allowing Fortes to score. Simpson advanced to second on Duran’s throw home.
Ben Williamson added a two-out RBI single, chopped between first baseman Andruw Monasterio and the right-field line.
Had Story fielded the ball cleanly and gotten the out at first, the inning could have ended without any runs.
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