The Boston Red Sox (87-36) defeated the Tampa Bay Rays (62-60) 7-3 on Friday night at Fenway Park.
After the first pitch was delayed by about ten minutes as the last of a rainstorm cleared out, the Rays began the game hot. Joey Wendle came through with an RBI double and Carlos Gomez added an RBI single to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.
The Red Sox began their comeback in the bottom of the frame. The Rays used Ryne Stanek in the opener role, and he had a rough lone inning of work. He needed 32 pitches to get through the frame, and Xander Bogaerts had the big hit with a two-run triple to pull the Red Sox within 3-2.
After Stanek's difficult first inning, Yonny Chirinos (1-5, 3.96) came in for the long haul. He allowed single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings for Boston to turn a a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead. The Red Sox got two more in the seventh inning, including one scoring on a Chirinos wild pitch, and Boston built a commanding 7-3 lead. All told Yonny Chirinos pitched six innings allowing five runs, all of them earned, on nine hits while walking one and striking out one to get the loss.
For the Rays offense, they were unable to get anything going after the first inning. Brian Johnson (4-3, 4.00) picked up the victory allowing three earned runs in five and two thirds innings of work - he allowed five hits while striking out two and walking two. A bullpen of Heath Hembree, Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes and Tyler Thornburg pitched three and a third innings of shutout baseball to close down the victory.
The second game between the Rays and the Red Sox comes up Saturday evening at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 - hear the game, beginning with a 6:30 pregame, on 620 WDAE & 95.3 FM.