The Rays began their longest road trip of the season Monday night in Boston still searching for their first victory away from Tropicana Field.
After going winless on their first road trip of the season, Fenway Park would seem to be the right place for the Rays to break out. After all, they entered the night having won nine of their past 10 in Boston.
Tampa Bay’s previous road woes were characterized by an offense that couldn’t get going and by games full of frustrating at-bats. But they broke out of their road funk Monday — the first game of a three-city, 10-game, 11-day trip — in a big way, putting together some of their best at-bats of the season.
“Definitely a win’s nice,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “A lot of offense today. It was encouraging.”
The result was a hard-fought 8-7 win over the Red Sox for the Rays’ first road win of the season in six tries. And all it took was 4 hours and 24 minutes.
Manuel Margot, who entered the game 3-for-33 on the season and still reeling from the death of his father last week, bested his season hit total with four — including an RBI double in the eighth to drive in the eventual winning run.
Kevin Kiermaier gave the Rays a 7-5 lead with a two-run double off Boston lefty Jeffrey Springs in the seventh, one of the best examples of the Rays bouncing back.
“I wanted to win that battle especially bad,” Kiermaier said. “I got down 0-2 right away, but it was okay. I felt comfortable the whole time.”
Kiermaier fought back, fouling off four two-strike pitches before ending the nine-pitch at-bat by slapping a 2-2 sinker the other way into the left-center gap.
“Pretty clutch,” Cash said. “He stayed on and got 0-2 real quick, battled, foul ball, took some pitches and got a pitch (he) could handle and smoked it into the gap.”
There was also Yandy Diaz’s nine-pitch walk in the sixth, which set up Ji-Man Choi’s go-ahead hit to give the Rays a 5-4 lead.
“You’re not always going to get that, but it was nice to see the quality at-bats,” Cash said. “Even the bats that we didn’t get the hits on, they were so competitive. And at the end, I think it helped just to wear down the pitchers on the mound and present opportunities maybe for the next guy.”
The Rays forced Boston to throw 199 pitches on the night.
With the win, the Rays (9-8) moved above .500 for the first time since July 30.
They took their first lead in the sixth on Choi’s cue-shot RBI double. Choi, who is experimenting with switch-hitting and was batting right-handed against the lefty Springs, poked an outside changeup down the rightfield line to score Michael Perez.
But the Red Sox tied it in the bottom half. Kevin Plawecki followed Michael Chavis’ leadoff double with an opposite-field single just inside the rightfield line.
The Rays rallied from a 4-1 third-inning hole to tie it. Perez, the walkoff hero Sunday against the Yankees at the Trop, hit a two-run single in the fourth and was initially called safe at home on Austin Meadows’ ensuing triple.
Perez appeared to evade Plawecki’s tag at home — plate umpire Stu Schuerwater called him safe — but the call was overturned after a Red Sox challenge.
The Rays tied it in the fifth as Joey Wendle tripled into the left-center nook of Fenway’s outfield, scoring Diaz from first.
Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough settled in after allowing three runs in the first, retiring nine of his next 10, the only hit coming on J.D. Martinez’s solo homer in the fourth.
Yarbrough, who lasted 4⅓ innings for his shortest start of the season, fell behind quickly in the first, allowing four of the first six hitters to reach base.
The Red Sox cut the lead to one in the eighth on Arauz’s two-run, two-out single off lefty reliever Jose Alvarado.
Boston had the winning run at the plate twice in the ninth after Martinez’s one-out single off Andrew Kittredge. But the right-handed reliever induced a flyout from Bogaerts and struck out Chavis to pick up his first save of the season.
Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieInTheYard.
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Rays snap out of road funk, beat Red Sox 8-7 at Fenway Park - Tampa Bay Times
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