Randy Arozarena smacked a camera-crushing three-run homer Tuesday night as the streaking Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox 8-4 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
In the clubs’ 15th meeting, the Rays needed just seven pitches to assail Rich Hill — a teammate of theirs in 2021 — and produce a three-run first inning.
After hits by Yandy Diaz and Manuel Margot to open the frame, Hill (6-6) went ahead 0-2 in the count against Arozarena. He then tried to sneak a fastball at the top of the zone past the defending American League Rookie of the Year.
However, Arozarena rocked a deep shot to straightaway center field, with his 19th blast of the season banging into and breaking a security camera which was left hanging by its twisted wires.
Arozarena went 3-for-4 with the homer, two doubles, three runs and three RBIs. Margot and Francisco Mejia each had two hits in Tampa Bay’s 13-hit barrage as the club won for the seventh time in eight games.
Christian Bethancourt and Yu Chang, who had two hits each, launched back-to-back solo homers in the sixth.
With scheduled starter Drew Rasmussen added to the paternity list with the early arrival of his child, Tampa Bay (76-58) turned the matchup into a bullpen game led by opener JT Chargois, who allowed two runs on two hits in two innings.
Garrett Cleavinger (1-1), the second of the Rays’ six hurlers, pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Boston (67-70) got a two-run homer from Tommy Pham, Triston Casas’ first major league home run and two singles from Alex Verdugo. Hill surrendered five runs on nine hits in four innings.
Following Tampa Bay’s opening flurry, Casas pulled a 3-2 pitch from Chargois to score Christian Arroyo and cut the lead to 3-2 in the second.
Both Margot and Arozarena rapped their second hits and scored for the second time when Harold Ramirez singled them home during a five-hit third inning against Hill.
In the sixth against Boston’s Eduard Bazardo, Bethancourt ripped his 10th homer to left and Chang blasted his fourth deep ball for a 7-2 lead.
After Mejia’s RBI double in the seventh, Pham drove in two in the eighth with his 16th homer for the final tallies.
–Field Level Media
