The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays meet for the second time this spring. The Rays won the first meeting 2-1. Boston had their ace, Garrett Crochet, making his first start of the spring as he faced Steven Matz for Tampa Bay, also making his first start of the spring.
Tampa Bay Rays Starting Lineup
SS – Carson Williams
LF – Justyn-Henry Malloy
DH – Junior Caminero
RF – Edward Olivares
1B – Jonathan Aranda
2B – Ben Williamson
3B – Raynel Delgado
CF – Homer Bush Jr.
C – Dom Keegan
LHP – Steven Matz
Boston Red Sox Starting Lineup
CF – Nate Eaton
SS – Trevor Story
1B – Willson Contreras
2B – Chad Durbin
C – Connor Wong
DH – Kristian Campbell
3B – Andruw Monasterio
LF – Allan Castro
RF – Braiden Ward
LHP – Garrett Crochet
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Rays vs. Red Sox
Scoring
The Red Sox had a big fourth inning to open the scoring. It started with a walk to Caleb Durbin, and then he advanced to second on a passed ball. He moved up to third on a groundout by Connor Wong. Kristian Campbell was then hit by a pitch, and Andruw Monasterio reached on a fielding error, loading the bases and bringing home Durbin. Two batters later, Braiden Ward singled home Campbell. Ward would steal second, and Nate Eaton walked to load the bases. Trevor Story would then double home Monasterio and Ward with Eaton going to third, making it 4-0 Red Sox. The Red Sox weren’t done as Willson Contreras walked, then Durbin doubled home Eaton and Story to make it 6-0; Contreras was on third. Wong then singled home Contreras, making it 7-0.
Tampa Bay started to chip away in the top of the fifth. Carson Williams drove home Raynel Delgado on a sacrifice fly. Justyn-Henry Malloy then singled home Homer Bush Jr. to make it 7-2. In the top of the sixth, after a leadoff double from Jonathan Aranda and a wild pitch allowing him to advance to third, Ben Williamson singled him home to make it 7-3. In the seventh, the Rays added another run, starting with Blake Sabol being hit by a pitch, then he would get to third two batters later when Marshall Toole hit a ground-rule double. Sabol would score on a Mac Horvath groundout. Tampa added another run in the ninth as Marshall Toole tripled home Will Simpson, but they would lose 7-5.
Pitching
Tampa Bay
Matz went two innings, giving up a hit and a walk; he struck out one. Cole Sulser was first out of the pen for the Rays. He went one inning, giving up a hit and striking out two. T.J. Nichols struggled in the fourth, giving up six runs, three earned on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. Jackson Lancaster followed Nichols, trying to stop the bleeding, but he would also struggle, giving up a run on two hits and a walk. He would ultimately end up getting the final out. Logan Worman got the fifth and sixth innings, allowing a walk and striking out two. Chase Solesky got the seventh; he allowed two hits and struck out one. Trevor Martin got the eighth, and he sent them down 1-2-3.
Boston
Crochet in his two innings of work allowed a hit and a walk; he didn’t record a strikeout. Aroldis Chapman had the third, and he allowed one hit and struck out three in his spring debut. Greg Weissert went an inning, allowing one walk. Jovani Moran got the fourth, and he allowed two unearned runs on two hits; he walked one and struck out one. Reidis Sena came in to finish the inning off. Payton Tolle got the sixth and started the seventh; he allowed two runs on three hits. Calvin Bickerstaff came in to finish off the inning. Wyatt Olds was next up out of the bullpen for Boston. He struck out two in his lone inning. Devin Sweet had the ninth; he allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts. He picked up the save as Weissert got the win.
Next Up:
The Red Sox will face the Atlanta Braves tomorrow on the road with first pitch at 1:05 PM EST. The Rays will face the Toronto Blue Jays at home at 1:05 PM EST.
