Rays 12, Red Sox 4: Paredes Led The Hit Parade

What do the Tampa Bay Rays say to the thought of getting swept by the Boston Red Sox?

Not today.

The Rays offense came alive and proved to be too much as they cruised to a 12-4 blowout victory over the Red Sox. They attacked the Green Monster like they were the last hope to save humanity in a comic book series launching numerous baseballs at or over the wall throughout the game. Every player got a hit,

After a scoreless first inning, the Rays had their first of five straight innings with a run scored in the second. Isaac Paredes launched a fly ball to left field that appeared to bounce off the top of the left field wall for a single. However, Kevin Cash challenged the ruling on the field and the call was overturned and the Rays had a 1-0 lead.

Corey Kluber started the game off strong for the Rays. He retired the Red Sox in order in the first inning and only allowed a single to Christian Arroyo in the second.

In the third inning Manuel Margot drew a two-out walk and stole second base for his sixth steal of the season. David Peralta came to the plate next and hit a ground ball to right field for a double allowing Margot to score and make it a 2-0 lead for the Rays.

While hits that either went over or off the Green Monster were the trend for the Rays, solo home runs were the trend for the Red Sox. Frenchy Cordero hit the first of three solo shots for Boston to trim the Rays lead to 2-1.

That Paredes guy is really good. Following a double from Randy Arozarena, Paredes launched his second home run of the game and made sure no replay review would be needed on a 390 ft blast over the wall extending the Rays lead to 4-1.

J.D. Martinez did his best to try to keep the game close with a leadoff home run off Kluber in the bottom of the fourth, making it a 4-2 game. Kluber and the Rays defense retired the next three batters to get out of the inning only giving up that one run.

The top of the fifth started off in a frustrating way the Rays but I suppose something had to go wrong in the game. Yandy Diaz hit a line drive off the wall that should have been a single, though, he tried to turn it into a double and got thrown out by Tommy Pham at second. When I say thrown out, it wasn’t even close as Diaz didn’t even bother to attempt to slide.

After that mishap, the game returned to the Rays domination. Just like in the third inning, Margot scored off a Peralta double to right field to make it a 5-2 Rays lead. The additional and consistent scoring made the game feel like the Rays would be able to respond to whatever the Red Sox could bring through the remainder of the game.

One is the loneliest number and had to feel that way for Red Sox home runs. Pham followed up his defensive contribution in the top of the inning with a solo home run in the bottom to keep hope alive temporarily for the Red Sox in a 5-3 game. A Xander Bogaerts single was the only other baserunner the Red Sox would get in the inning as the Rays once again bounced back defensively to allow Kluber more time to remain in the game.

Hirokazu Sawamura entered the game in relief of Pivetta and the Rays blew the game open. Jose Siri and Diaz hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. A Margot sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game. Diaz advanced to second on a walk to Peralta who just seemed to live on base today and scored on a Harold Ramirez RBI-single. In the next at-bat, Arozarena hit his 30th double of the season to score Peralta and just like that it’s an 8-3 lead for the Rays.

Kluber finished his day in the bottom of the sixth inning with a scoreless inning following the three consecutive innings giving up a solo homer. He got credit for his ninth win of the season with 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, and 3 HR on 85 pitches.

Colin Poche took the mound for the Rays in the bottom of the seventh. Selfishly, I wished the Rays had more than a five-run lead so we could be in a Christian Bethancourt pitching scenario but there was still plenty of baseball ahead. Bobby Dalbec and Pham hit back-to-back singles off Poche to put runners on first and third. A sacrifice fly from Bogaerts would be the only run the Red Sox would score in the inning, and their final run of the game as the Rays led 8-4 through seven.

Austin Davis took the mound for the Red Sox in the eighth inning as if the Rays had not already beat up on enough Boston pitchers. Peralta hit a leadoff single and Ramirez reached safely on a Devers error to once again start an inning with runners on the corners with no outs. Arozarena took full advantage with his third double of the day to make it a 9-4 game.

The Rays weren’t done. After a walk to Paredes, Taylor Walls hit a bases loaded RBI-single off the wall to score Ramirez and Arozarena. The hit was also the final piece in ensuring all Rays batters got a hit in today’s hit parade in Boston. The Rays added one more run later in the inning on a Jose Siri ground ball to the pitcher that allowed Paredes to score while Walls was out at second.

With an eight run lead, the Rays sent Bethancourt to the mound to collect the final three outs and provide some additional entertainment for Rays fans. He threw two fastballs at 90 mph and those were the only two hits he gave up. That was enough for him to close out the game and secure the 12-4 win for the Rays.

Hopefully the Rays bats do not cool off too much on the off day tomorrow. They face the Miami Marlins on Tuesday at 6:40pm with ace Shane McClanahan on the mound. Until then, savor this victory over the Red Sox.