Charlie Morton didn’t make it out of the fifth inning in his last start. Saturday night against the Red Sox he hoped to rebound and get the Rays out of their first two-game skid of 2019.
For the second-straight ballgame the man behind the plate wasn’t jumping on anyone’s Christmas lists. Tim Timmons was calling balls and strikes tonight and squeezing pitches on both sides. In the second inning, it paid dividends for the Red Sox.
With J.D. Martinez at third, Xander Bogaerts at second, and Jackie Bradley Jr.at first, Morton plunked Sandy Leon to push home the first run. Andrew Benintendi deposited a grand slam just over the wall in left field the very next pitch. A review of fan interference was overturned and it was quickly a 5-0 ballgame.
Avi gets ’em on the board
Avisail Garcia put his fourth home run into the right field seats in the bottom of the inning to get the Rays on the board and make it a 5-1 game off Boston starter Rick Porcello.
Three-baggers for everyone!
Ji-Man Choi would lead off the fourth with a triple. A stand-up triple, by the way. Brandon Lowe would soon drive him home with a triple of his own. The Rays would cut further into the Red Sox lead, 5-2 hitting two of what would become four triples on the night. The feat would be a new franchise, single season record.
Getting interesting in the seventh
Kevin Kiermaier hit the third double of the ballgame to lead off the seventh. With two men aboard, Austin Meadows would pull the Rays within a run with a two-RBI triple of his own in the same inning.
Yandy ties it up
Yandy Diaz crushed his fifth home run of the season just inside the right field foul pole to tie the game in the eighth. The Rays had new life and got Morton off the hook for what wound up being a very stellar six innings of work. His only blemish the five-run second.
Oh but base running…
The Rays, now down 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a Benintendi sac fly in the top of the inning, put two aboard with two outs off Boston closer Ryan Brasier. Tommy Pham was at first after a single. Daniel Robertson was at second after leading off with a base knock.
With Willy Adames at the plate needing a base hit to tie it up again – Pham was quickly picked off first on a throw down by catcher Christian Vazquez.
Ballgame. Heartbreak. Boston takes the first two and the series snapping the Rays streak of six-straight series wins to open 2019.
NEXT UP:
It’ll be Tyler Glasnow (4-0, 1.13) tomorrow on Easter Sunday hoping to salvage the finale.
