ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- Brad Miller's two-run homer off Joe Kelly in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie, giving the Tampa Bay Rays their third win in four games over the Boston Red Sox, a 5-3 decision Sunday in the finale before the All-Star break.
Boston started the game with Mookie Betts taking the third pitch of the afternoon from Archer and depositing it into the seats in left for his 16th home run of the year and an earl 1-0 lead.
The advantage didn't last long for the Red Sox, as Steven Souza Jr. doubled off David Price to start the bottom of the inning, scoring two batters later on an RBI single by Evan Longoria.
The top of the order again broke the tie in the third, as Souza drew a leadoff walk and Corey Dickerson doubled him to third. Longoria then lifted a sacrifice fly that brought Souza in to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
The game remained 2-1 until the seventh, when Tzu-Wei Lin singled with one out, moving to second on a groundout by Betts and Dustin Pedroia finished Archer's afternoon with a two-run homer that gave Boston the lead.
But again, Boston couldn't get a shutdown inning on defense. Pinch-hitter Mallex Smith drew a four-pitch walk from reliever Matt Barnes, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Peter Bourjos, and took third on an infield hit by Souza. Dickerson's sacrifice fly against Kelly then brought Smith in with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Kelly remained in fr the eighth, walking Logan Morrison but getting Wilson Ramos to line out and striking out Trevor Plouffe in front of Miller, who unloaded his third home run of the year to again give Tampa Bay the lead, this time for good.
Alex Colome worked a scoreless ninth inning to notch his 25th save of the season.
The win gets Tampa Bay back to a season-best four-games over .500 at 47-43 and into a tie for second place in the division with the Yankees loss to Milwaukee.
The Rays will get a couple of days of rest for the All-Star break before starting a series Friday in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels.