The Rays should have pulled off a sweep in Fenway but a massive bullpen implosion in the finale meant they had to settle for 2 of 3. Still it was a good close to the first half of the season as Toronto lost 2 of 3 at home to the Yankees and fell 2 1/2 games back.
As has so often been the case of late the offense has taken 5-6 innings to get going while the pitching held the opponent down and enabled the Rays to pull out a win, and that was the story tonight in a 5-1 victory over Boston. In fact it was kind of an extreme example as the Rays didn't even manage a hit until the 5th before exploding for 4 runs in the 6th.
Wander Franco's 3-run homer (#8) was the decisive blow and made a winner of
Danny Morales, who went 7 3 1 1 3 7 and closed out a massive June to improve to 10-1.
For a change Tampa Bay got going early on offense and cruised to a 5-0 win over the Red Sox behind a brilliant outing from
Chris Ferguson. The Rays got a 2-run
Danny Arroyave homer (#12) in a 3-run first to set the tone early and Ferguson took it from there, going 8 5 0 0 3 5 on 108 pitches as the staff continues to carry this club.
Danny Arroyave had his biggest game of the season and the Rays tacked on 2 runs in the 9th to take a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the inning but
Devon Williams and
Mike Moore combined to allow 5 runs without recording an out as the epic bullpen meltdown gave Boston an 8-7 win in the finale. It certainly looked like a sweep was in the cards thanks to Arroyave, who had a 2-run double in the 5th, a solo homer (#13) in the 8th and an RBI double in the 9th to go with
Danny Charlton's 2-run shot (#16) in the first off former Ray Shane Baz.
Kevin DiCostanzo had another mediocre start at 5.1 6 3 3 3 6 but it looked more than good enough for the win before the 9th started. Williams, who had been on a good run of late, gave up hits to the first four men he faced and left with two runs in and men on 2nd and 3rd. Enter closer Moore (2-4), who has been a bit spotty lately, and he promptly gave up a 3-run homer to the first man he faced to let Boston walk it off and give him his fourth blown save of the year.
Team record: 53-28. Next up: As we've reached the midway point of the season the next post will be a full review of the season to date, and on the field we're off to Kansas City for 3 games.
Some recognition for Morales' great month:
