ST. PETERSBURG — Saturday’s tenser-than-it-looked 9-5 win over the Red Sox before a season-high crowd at Tropicana Field vaulted the Rays into sole possession of first place in the American League East.
Now they just have to stay there for the final two months, and 57 games, of the season.
Rookie Wander Franco and catcher Francisco Mejia delivered several clutch hits each, and Ji-Man Choi homered as Tampa Bay won its third straight to improve to 63-42 and move into the top spot alone for the first time since June 26.
It’s the first time the Rays have been alone in first after 100 games since 2013.
But the Rays might have lost another reliever to injury. Lefty Jeffrey Springs fell awkwardly chasing Rafael Devers’ bunt down the third-base line in the seventh and grabbed his right knee in what looked to be in major pain. Springs was able to get up and walk off the field under his own power, the team announcing later that he had a right-knee sprain.
Ryan Yarbrough gave the Rays another inconsistent start, allowing five runs in five innings, before an announced crowd of 20,521.
He gave up three runs in the first, with a one-out walk, a wild pitch, an RBI single by J.D. Martinez and a two-run homer by Xander Bogaerts. Then Yarbrough impressively retired 11 in a row. Then he allowed a bloop single to start the fifth, followed by a long and loud home run by No. 8 hitter Bobby Dalbec.
Down 3-0 before they batted, the Rays quickly got back in the game. Brandon Lowe led off with a double off former Ray Nathan Eovaldi. Choi, who seems to be benefitting from hitting in front of new acquisition Nelson Cruz, delivered a homer to right, his fifth in his past 13 games, and eighth overall.
Shoddy fielding by Sox second baseman Jonathan Arauz helped the Rays tie it in the third. His first error allowed Lowe to reach first with one out. His second, on a Cruz grounder after a Choi single, allowed Lowe to score.
The Rays went ahead in the next inning, when Joey Wendle led off with a single and Mejia knocked a two-strike, two-out Eovaldi pitch over the right-centerfield fence.
But Dalbec’s homer off Yarbrough allowed the Sox to pull even.
The Rays retook the lead in the sixth.
Wendle drew a one-out walk, then came around as Franco, who had two extra-base hits in Friday’s series-opening win, laced a ball just inside the first-base line for a triple.
With Yarbrough lasting only five innings, the Rays had to once again count heavily on their relievers.
Andrew Kittredge got into a mess in the sixth, loading the bases on a one-out walk, a Hunter Renfroe double and an intentional walk of lefty Alex Verdugo. But the right-hander struck out Christian Vazquez — after falling behind 3-0 — and Dalbec on three pitches to end the threat.
Matt Wisler replaced Springs with two on and one out in the seventh and got a groundout. But when he fell behind Bogaerts 3-0, the Rays opted to walk him to load the bases. Wisler then came back to strike out Renfroe.
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