The Tampa Bay Rays started their final homestand of the season the right way with a convincing victory in the series opener against the Boston Red Sox.
On Wednesday night, the Rays (74-77) will send out one of their better pitchers in the rematch against their American League East rival in St. Petersburg, Fla.
In Tampa Bay’s 8-3 victory on Tuesday, the club erupted for 12 hits — seven for extra bases, including four home runs. That’s considered foreign production from manager Kevin Cash’s generally punchless bunch.
Josh Lowe, Brandon Lowe, Junior Caminero and Jose Siri all went deep as the Rays damaged the wild-card aspirations of the Red Sox.
“It makes it easy for me when our offense is that great,” said Shane Baz, who allowed two runs on two hits in seven innings and got the win.
Hard-throwing Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.76 ERA) will get the start on Wednesday for Tampa Bay.
In his first season with the Rays, Pepiot has blossomed into the type of hurler the organization expected when it acquired him from the Dodgers in the trade that sent ace Tyler Glasnow to Los Angeles.
The Rays also received Jonny DeLuca in last December’s trade. Batting just .210, the outfielder slots first on the club in triples (four) and is fourth in stolen bases (16).
Meanwhile, Pepiot has a staff-high eight wins in the depleted rotation, which is missing Glasnow, Zach Eflin, Shane McClanahan and Aaron Civale from 2023.
Pepiot allowed three runs on two hits in four innings of a no-decision in his lone career start against Boston in an 8-5 loss on May 22.
Tuesday’s loss was a devastating one for the Red Sox (75-76), who have dropped four of their past five decisions. They have a losing record for the first time since June 11 and fell games out of the final AL wild-card spot with 11 games left.
“It’s not a lack of effort,” Boston manger Alex Cora said. “It’s not happening for us right now.”
The Red Sox will turn to right-hander Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24) to make Wednesday’s start.
Houck had been expected to start last Friday’s matchup with the Yankees in New York, but his shoulder was not 100 percent and he was scratched.
He has posted a 1.17 WHIP and struck out 150 hitters this season. However, he has toiled through a career-high 169 2/3 innings, bettering his previous high of 106 set in 2023.
That led to concerns about his workload in the Yankees series.
“This guy’s very important for us, not only now but for the future,” Cora said of the decision to have Houck skip another start. “For him to go out the way he was, we were going to pay the consequences after that one.”
His most recent start was on Sept. 4 in an 8-3 loss at the New York Mets, who handed him a defeat for the fourth consecutive decision. He last won on July 11 in a 7-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
Against the Rays, the 28-year-old is 1-4 with a 4.45 ERA in seven outings (five starts).
–Field Level Media