 got four outs for the victory, escaping a ninth-inning jam by striking out the final two batters.Martinez led off the eighth win a single against Colome (2-3) and Jackie Bradley Jr. walked before Leon hit a bouncer inside the bag that caromed off a side wall into short left field.Trailing 3-0, Boston rallied to tie on Martinez's two-run single and Bradley's sacrifice fly in the sixth, but they left the bases loaded when Tzu-Wei Lin flied out.Span's homer over Boston's bullpen made it 2-0 in the third. Mallex Smith added an RBI single an inning later.TRAINER'S ROOMRays: C Wilson Ramos was out of the lineup after leaving Saturday's game with a sore groin.Red Sox: OF Mookie Betts, who left Saturday with a tight right hamstring, was out of the lineup Sunday. Manager Alex Cora didn't seem too concerned, saying it's ''day to day.'' ... RHP Tyler Thornburg (recovering from right shoulder surgery) starts a rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket on Monday.ANGRY WALKRed Sox slugger Hanley Ramirez was hit on the left forearm by Matt Andriese. The slugger glared at the pitcher and appeared to say something before flipping his bat toward Boston's dugout and walking slowly to first with Rays catcher Jesus Sucre in between the pair, but nothing escalated.ANNIVERSARYThe game marked the 32nd anniversary of Boston's Roger Clemens setting a major league record by striking out 20 against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.WARM HELLOTampa Bay manager Kevin Cash came out of the dugout in the middle of the sixth inning to say hello to a couple of fans that walked down to the first row from much further back to get his attention. Cash played on Boston's 2007 World Series-winning team.RAYS' ROSTER SHUFFLETampa Bay optioned LHP Ryan Yarbrough to Triple-A Durham on Sunday and recalled RHP Chih-Wei Hu from the same team.Yarbrough was 1-1 with a 4.19 ERA in seven games. Hu appeared in one game with the Rays this season, allowing three runs in 2 2/3 innings.UP NEXTRays: RHP Jake Faria (1-1, 6.33 ERA) is slated to pitch the opener of a three-games series in Detroit on Monday. He has struggled in his two road starts, giving up 12 runs in six innings.Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez ((3-0, 3.63) looks to extend his career-best stretch of winning three consecutive starts when the Red Sox play the first of three against Kansas City at Fenway Monday.)
Rays seek ninth straight win, sweep of Red Sox 11h ago• 3 min read BOSTON -- Back on April 17, the Tampa Bay Rays lost 7-2 to the Texas Rangers in St. Petersburg, Fla., falling to 4-13.On Sunday, the Rays, who have smashed and bashed their way to eight straight victories, have a chance to get to .500 for the first time since they were 1-1 when they look for a sweep of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox."These guys feel good right now," manager Kevin Cash said after the Rays scored a season-high 12 runs in Saturday's 12-6 victory over the Red Sox. "They're having fun playing, and as maybe as sloppy as it was early on, they found a way to tighten it up and win against a good team."When you get some momentum like we have now, things are looking to be going in our favor." The Rays have their longest winning streak since a nine-gamer for former manager Joe Maddon in July 2014. They have outscored their opponents 63-34 and outhit them 101-72 during the streak. They have scored at least eight runs in six of their last seven games and have 16 homers in their last six games.They are the first team with an eight-plus-game winning and eight-plus-game losing streak in the same season before May 1 since the 1985 Minnesota Twins.On Saturday, Wilson Ramos became the first Rays catcher to homer in three straight games. He left with some leg problems and is considered day-to-day (he won't start Sunday).Cash needed a pitcher for Sunday and the favorite for the start was left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. But Yarbrough was needed in the third inning and picked up his first career victory, taking him out of any chance at Sunday.Enter right-hander Matt Andriese, who has worked two innings or longer in each of his last three relief appearances. Right-hander Chin-Wei Hu has been summoned from Charlotte to fortify the bullpen.Andriese will face Rick Porcello, 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA this season, with two wins coming against Tampa Bay. The Red Sox have dropped five of their last seven after a 17-2 start."I've been saying it the last few days, we were really really good early -- it's still early, but when we were swinging the bats well, (we were) putting the ball in play with two strikes, staying in the middle of the field," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "Right now, we're striking out too much."We had chances. We had chances to put them away early in the game, at least get a big lead, and we didn't do it. Right now, they're swinging the bat well. We didn't take advantage of the opportunities and that was the result." The Red Sox had the bases loaded with nobody out twice in the first three innings Saturday -- and scored one run each time.Porcello has been great. His opponents' OPS is .456, which was second in the league starting play Saturday.Lifetime, he is 14-8 with a 3.22 ERA against the Rays -- the 14 victories his most against any team.Brad Miller is hitting .279 against Porcello but has five homers and 11 RBIs in 43 at-bats. Denard Span, who wound up with an inside-the-park home run Saturday thanks to a bad hop past Jackie Bradley Jr., is hitting .381 against Porcello. Adeiny Hechavarria is 3-for-19 and Mallex Smith 3-for-17 against the right-hander.Andriese, who has worked in seven games as a reliever this season, is 2-2 with a 5.95 ERA lifetime in 11 games (seven starts) against the Red Sox. He is 1-2 with a whopping 12.21 ERA at Fenway Park.Eduardo Nunez is 5-for-7 against Andriese. Mookie Betts, who left Saturday's game with hamstring tightness and is day-to-day, is 7-for-19 with a homer versus Andriese.
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