Rays 9, Red Sox 2
Record: 39-23
Attendance: 35,564
Ryan Yarbrough (5-2) pitched a brilliant seven and two-thirds innings in the first game of a day-night doubleheader against the Red Sox, giving up only two runs (one earned) on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over 110 pitches. Emilio Pagan and Casey Sadler finished it up. The performance extended Rays' recent pitching dominance, only three runs allowed (one unearned) over the last 28 innings.
Yarbrough's gem was on his fourth appearance since his recall from triple A Durham where he'd been demoted to find his 2018 form. The first two of the four went well, but last Sunday's outing against the Twins was a disaster, so going into this game against the heavy-hitting Red Sox at Fenway was hardly a slam dunk. After the game, a relieved Manager Kevin Cash was quoted in the Tampa Bay Times as saying that "Yarbs was outstanding."
Offensively the Rays hammered out 13 hits with everyone but Avisail Garcia (0-5) getting on the hit bandwagon. The only longball came from Travis d'Arnaud, who hit one 407 feet over the Green Monster in the second inning with two on and two out. Carrying a 5-2 lead into the ninth, the Rays put the game away with singles and a bunt that added up to four add-on runs.
The win put the Rays 16 games over .500 again. More important, with the Yankee loss in Cleveland, the Rays were guaranteed, even if they lose the second game of the doubleheader, a tie for first at the end of the day. Finally, they guaranteed themselves at least a tie in the series against Boston, very welcome as a result of a scheduling nightmare that had them play four games in Fenway in 45 hours. Sunday's finale begins at 1:05. The team returns home to the Trop for a three-game set against the Oakland A's beginning Monday.
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