Harold Ramirez hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to finish a 3-for-5 performance and lift the Tampa Bay Rays past the host Boston Red Sox, 4-2, on Saturday in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
Francisco Mejia added two hits and a run to help the Rays split the twin bill and the first half of the four-game series.
With Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen (1-3) on for the second straight game, Mejia and Yandy Diaz opened the ninth with back-to-back singles before advancing into scoring position on Brandon Lowe’s deep flyout into the right field corner.
Ramirez’s line-drive double to right plated both runners, giving Tampa a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
In the bottom half of the ninth, Jose Siri made a game-ending diving catch in center field to rob a potential extra-base hit from Jarren Duran. Boston had two on when Siri made the grab.
Calvin Faucher (1-1) and Jason Adam each pitched a scoreless inning for the win and save, respectively.
Triston Casas had a double and a triple for two of Boston’s five hits.
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford set down six of the first seven batters he faced, but Manuel Margot’s leadoff double to left in the third inning helped the Rays push across the go-ahead run.
Mejia and Diaz followed Margot’s two-bagger with groundouts, with the latter putting Tampa ahead 1-0.
The visitors were held to one run in the inning as Crawford recorded the final out, and then reliever Justin Garza retired the side in order an inning later.
Masataka Yoshida helped get the Red Sox get going in the last of the fourth, driving a leadoff double to left and scoring when Casas ripped a two-out triple to deep center.
After Boston reliever Ryan Sherriff worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth, the Rays bounced back to jump ahead in the sixth, as Siri ripped a pinch-hit RBI double past diving third baseman Rafael Devers.
Siri’s hit kept the Rays in front 2-1 until Connor Wong scored in the seventh on a Devers popup that second baseman Brandon Lowe dropped.
Tyler Glasnow worked 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball as the Rays starter. He struck out six.
–Field Level Media
