The Red Sox came into St. Pete and had rookie Anthony Ranaudo on the mound vs. Chris Archer of the Rays. Controversy followed Archer’s last start against the Sox when he made open criticism of Ortiz daring to flip his bat after hitting a homerun off of him. There would be no controversy today other than Archer giving up 8 runs before the 2 inning was over, including a grand slam to rookie Mookie Betts.
The Sox spotted Ranaudo 3 runs before he even took the mound. Cespedes got the Sox on the board in the 1st with an RBI single to score Holt. Nava and Middlebrooks both got RBI singles of their own to have the Sox leading 3-0. In the 2nd inning the Sox broke the game wide open and put up a crooked number. Cespedes hit an RBI double to score Ortiz and then Mookie Betts to the plate with the bases loaded. Betts hit a grand slam and now the Sox were leading 8-0.
In the bottom of the 2nd the Rays got a run from Ranaudo when he gave an RBI single to Kiermaier. Sox 8-1. After 4 innings of work Archer was out of the game and the rest would be in the hands of the bullpen. Ranaudo allowed a couple more runs in the bottom of the 5th when he allowed a 2 run homerun to Guyer. Sox 8-3. Ranaudo pitched 6 strong innings and even though he wasn’t his sharpest start, he was easily in line for the win. Breslow pitched a scoreless 7th inning and then Burke Badenhop pitched a scoreless 8th. Edward Mujica took he mound in the 9th and he wasn’t able to get a scoreless inning of his own. Mujica gave up an RBI single to Guyer, but that would be all he would allow and the Sox would coast to an 8-4 victory.
Red Sox 8 Rays 4 BOXSCORE
WP: Ranaudo (3-0) LP: Archer (8-7)
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