The Rays handed the Red Sox a win and allowed them to celebrate a postseason spot and I just can’t.
Freddie Peralta got off to a great start, but stumbled in the third inning, giving up two doubles that allowed the Red Sox to take a 1-0 lead.
But things were looking up in the bottom of the inning. Cedric Mullins bunted for a hit, and the Red Sox third baseman threw the ball away, allowing Mullins to advance to second with none out.
Mullins, however, got picked off trying to steal third, erasing that
runner. And then Jorge “why are you still on this team?” Mateo and Jake “missed half the season and very rusty” Fraley both struck out to end that inning with the Rays failing to score. Oh and the chef’s kiss, Mateo blew through a challenge on a clear strike in the process.
Peralta faced difficulties again in the fourth inning. After being up 1-2, he walked Wilyer Abreu, burning through the Rays second challenge along the way, and then gave up a single to Nick Sogard, to put two men on base. The inning ended, thankfully, with a strike out and a pop up.
Then, praise be, Jonathan Aranda jumped on a fastball and drove it opposite field over the fence, and the game was tied 1-1
And then we just kept going with the score 1-1. Both teams had a lot of scoring opportunities, but couldn’t capitalize. Two players (one on each team) got caught stealing third. One player (Johnny DeLuca) got thrown out at home.
The Rays could not figure out Brayan Bello. The Red Sox seemed more comfortable against Freddie Peralta, especially since his command was meh, but they still only scored one run. The Red Sox managed to get two extra base hits against Bryan Baker in the top of the ninth, a double and a triple. You’d think that would be a run, except Caleb Durbin, who hit the double, had gotten caught stealing third so the triple came with no one on base.
This entire game felt, if you’ll allow me to get a little Greek mythology on you, a bit Sisyphean. Push the boulder up the hill, watch it roll down, but in this case it was get a couple of guys on base, watch the next guys strike out and pop up. Red Sox struck out 9 times, Rays struck out 12 times.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth that the Rays were able to take a final lead. With the very effective Garrett Whitlock on the mound, Caminero and Simpson singled, and moved to second and third on a passed ball with just one out. But Victor Mesa Jr was unable to get the winning run in (he struck out). And then Richie Palacios came up, got down 1-2, dinked a flare into right field, and the Rays had walked it off.
This victory is sweet for many reasons. First, of course, Rays magic number to win the division is now down to 5.
Next, they kept the Red Sox from clinching a postseason slot for at least one more day.
Finally, all those red-clad interlopers taking up space in our stadium had to go home disappointed.
Back at it tomorrow. Griffin Jax tries to build on his recent strong starts, and the Rays will face Patrick Sandoval.
