TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Story hit a tiebreaking single in a three-run ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Saturday night to keep pace in a crowded American League playoff race.
Boston remained two games behind the New York Yankees for the top AL wild card and is a game ahead of Cleveland and Houston for the second of those three spots.
Tampa Bay has dropped four consecutive series, and eight straight games to the Red Sox.
Rays third baseman Junior Caminero committed his second error of the game in the ninth. Ceddanne Rafaela reached second when Caminero mishandled a grounder, setting up Story’s go-ahead single off Jesse Scholtens (0-1).
Masataka Yoshida added an insurance run with a single, and Romy Gonzalez drove in another with a sacrifice fly.
Alex Bregman and Yoshida each had two hits and an RBI, and Nathaniel Lowe added a sacrifice fly.
Garrett Whitlock (7-3) worked a scoreless eighth for the win. Aroldis Chapman earned his 31st save.
Kyle Harrison, acquired from San Francisco in June as part of the trade package for Rafael Devers, made his first start for the Red Sox. The left-hander allowed one run on four hits and struck out five over five innings.
Yandy Diaz extended his recent tear with two hits for the Rays, including an RBI single that tied the score in the seventh. Nick Fortes doubled in a run and Jake Mangum singled in another.
Key moment
Jarren Duran produced Boston’s first run in the third by hitting a single, stealing second and coming around on two wild pitches.
Key stat
The Red Sox improved to 12-4 in their last 16 road games.
Up next
Boston rookie left-hander Connelly Early (1–0, 0.87 ERA) starts the series finale Sunday night against RHP Joe Boyle (1-3, 4.64).
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.