St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Wade Miley pitched scoreless ball
into the sixth inning and Boston escaped with a 1-0 decision over Tampa Bay
in the opener of a three-game series.
Miley (1-1) walked four but allowed three hits and struck out three over his
5 2/3-inning appearance. Four relievers combined to allow one hit the rest of
the way, with Koji Uehara notching his second save by recording the final
three outs.
Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Hanigan each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who
were coming off a rain-shortened win against the Orioles on Monday.
Chris Archer (2-2) was the hard-luck loser for the Rays, after giving up an
unearned run on seven hits while fanning nine over 5 2/3 frames.
Archer departed with two on and two out in the sixth and down 1-0, but Brandon
Gomes induced a fly out from Brock Holt to end the threat.
Brandon Guyer singled with one away in the home half, then appeared to have at
least tied a throw to second on a Steven Souza grounder but was called out.
Logan Forsythe and Evan Longoria walked, and Miley was lifted for Ogando. He
forced Desmond Jennings into a fielder’s choice grounder at short to keep
Tampa off the board.
Ogando and Robbie Ross combined to turn away the Rays in order in the seventh,
then Junichi Tazawa turned the trick in the eighth.
Uehara allowed a leadoff hit to Forsythe but that was quickly erased on a
5-4-3 double-play grounder from Longoria. Jennings grounded to third for the
game’s final out.
The Sox picked up the night’s only run in the third, as Hanigan reached with
an infield single, moved to second on a Mookie Betts walk and scored as Rays
second baseman Brett threw wild to first trying to complete a double play off
a Dustin Pedroia grounder to the mound.
Game Notes
Heading into this set, Boston is 3-0-1 in series play in 2015, undefeated in
its first four series in any year for the first time since the 1981 team went
unbeaten in its first five … After Ramirez swiped second in the opening
inning, the The Red Sox have been successful in all 10 stolen base attempts
this season, the second-highest stolen-base total without being caught in the
majors next to Cincinnati’s 14-for-14 entering play Tuesday … The Rays
dropped to 1-6 at home and, dating back to last June 2, the Rays are 25-37 at
home, second worst in the majors ahead of Texas … Coming into the contest,
the Rays committed just three errors and led the AL with a .994 fielding pct.
— second only to Atlanta (.998).
