So many days and nights over the years, the Rays have trudged out of Fenway Park, heads down and feet dragging in defeat, happy to escape what to them was anything but Boston’s self-proclaimed status as America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.
Fourteen times in their first 22 years of play, the Rays didn’t win more than three games there in a season.
Thursday evening, they had reason to smile, linger and maybe pose for some pictures on the way to the bus, having rolled to a 17-8 win that completed a powerful four-game sweep in their only visit of the abbreviated season.
And they had quite a blast doing so, scoring 42 runs in the four games, a team record for a series, as were their 59 hits and 24 for extra bases. The victory was their sixth straight overall, as they improved to 12-8.
After posting eight runs in each of the first two games and nine on Wednesday, the Rays turned up the offense even more Thursday, taking advantage of poor Red Sox pitching and staggeringly sloppy defense.
The 17 runs matched the second most the Rays have scored in a game. The 19 hits were a season high, three more than in Monday’s series opener. Twice they sent nine batters to the plate in an inning.
The four home runs they hit were one fewer than in a July game against the Braves, but Thursday’s might have had a greater distance.
Hard to say though because blasts by Hunter Renfroe — his second of the day — and Mike Zunino soared so far out of Fenway that they either rendered the Statcast measuring service useless or broke it.
Brandon Lowe had a homer and a single, now hitting .428 with four doubles and four homers in eight games at Fenway Park. Manuel Margot had four hits. Willy Adames had a single, double and triple, just a homer shy of the cycle.
The 17 runs gave them 107 for the season, surpassing the idle Braves for most in the majors.
The only disappointment, if you see it that way, was starter Tyler Glasnow not taking advantage of the support, battling his way through four innings, allowing five runs and eight hits, throwing 84 pitches. But Jalen Beeks worked two solid innings of relief and Anthony Banda, just called up, the other three.
This was the second time in 28 tries that the Rays swept a four-game series from their AL East rival, the other April 16-19, 2010, in Boston. (They also have only swept a three-game series in Boston only once, last year. ) Overall, it was only the sixth time the Rays swept a four-game series on the road from any team.
The Rays left after the game for Buffalo, N.Y., where they play a weekend series starting Friday against the relocated Blue Jays.
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August 14, 2020 at 07:30AM
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Rays blast Red Sox 17-8 to complete four-game sweep - Tampa Bay Times
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