By Tiffany Williams –
The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will play two games over the weekend in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as part of MLB’s World Tour. The Sox will be the visiting team on Saturday at Estadio Quisqueya, while Sunday they will be the home team.
The Sox and Rays have met twice already during spring training. On February 2, at Port Charlotte the Sox won 3-2. Nick Pivetta tossed 2.0 scoreless, hitless innings with one strikeout. Rob Refsnyder and Joe Dunand each hit solo homers and Nick Sogard hit a double and Bobby Dalbec scored.
On February 5, Garrett Whitlock started and earned the win, allowing two runs over 3.0 innings. Whitlock had 41 pitches and 29 were strikes. He allowed four hits and stuck out two. Tyler O’Neill went two-for-two with three runs scored, an RBI double, a two-run home run, a walk, and a stolen base, and Enmanuel Valdez went three-for-three with a double, triple, and three RBI.
Six players with the Boston Red Sox are originally form Dominican Republic – Brayan Bello, Rafael Devers, Luis Guerrero, Pablo Reyes, and Joely Rodriguez.
Red Sox legends and Hall Of Famers Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz, both from the Dominican Republic will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
After this weekend the Sox and Rays will meet again on March 19, at JetBlue Park for their fifth and final Spring Training game.
During the 2024 season the Sox and Rays will meet 13 times. May 13-22 the two clubs will meet for game in a ten day span. The Sox will host the Rays at Fenway for a four-game series May 13-16, and May 20-22 the Rays will host the Sox for a three-game series at Tropicana Field. The clubs will meet again Tropicana Field September 17-19 for a three-game series, and September 27-29 the Sox will host the Rays at Fenway to wrap up the regular season with a three-game series.
In 2023, the Sox went 2-11 against the Rays, going 1-5 at Fenway Park and 1-6 at Tropicana Field.