By Zachary McMahon –
The Boston Red Sox played the second game of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. The Sox lost the opener of the series 5-3 on Monday night.
Connor Wong was the designated hitter, as Reese McGwire was at catcher to start the game for the Sox. This was Wong’s second game starting at designated hitter this season as he started there in the loss against the Cleveland Guardians on April 18 where he went 0-for-4.
Nick Pivetta made his second start since coming off the injured list. He had a much better start this time around when he pitched 5 ⅓ innings and only allowed two runs.
Aaron Civale was on the bump for the Rays, as this was the East Windsor, CT native’s first major league game at Fenway Park. He pitched in a game at Fenway Park as a member of the Northeastern Huskies baseball team in 2015, as he got the save in the win against Harvard in the baseball Beanpot Consolation game.
Josh Lowe opened up the scoring for the Rays in the first inning with a solo shot to right center to make it 1-0.
Then, first baseman Dominic Smith hit a two-run double that scored Tyler O’Neil and Rafael Dever to get the Sox the lead 2-1 in the fourth.
Ceddane Rafaela then hit a solo homer into the monster seats to make it 3-1 in the fifth.
Then the Rays tied the game at three in the sixth with a 400-foot solo shot to left center for Randy Arozarena and an RBI single from Issac Parades off Justin Slaten.
The Sox were able to shut down the Rays as Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen both pitched shutout innings in the eighth and ninth and into extra innings.
Both teams did not score until the 11th inning when Ceddane Rafaela had a difficult time gripping the ball and missed the throw to Romy Gonzalez, who pinch ran as the ghost runner in the 10th, and then took over for Smith at first base in extras. In that play it was a grounder by Parades, who would then reach second on the error when it hit one of the first base cameras near the Rays dugout. The Rays would take a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th.
The Sox would tie the game when Rays pitcher Manuel Rodriguez hesitated on where he was going to throw the ball on a hit by Rob Refsnyder, when he could’ve ended the game throwing out Jarren Duran and Refsnyder. But instead it was an RBI groundout by Refsnyder, which scored David Hamliton home, who pinch ran for McGwire.
In the top of the 12th, Hamilton would enter in as shortstop and Devers was taken out of the game, and Rafaela moved to third base for the second time this season. Meanwhile, Wong moved from designated hitter to catcher. Brennan Bernadino pitched the 12th inning, when he led off with a walk to left fielder Jonny DeLuca but was able to strand the runners on the bases after that.
Then in the bottom of the 12th inning, Gonzalez would hit a grounder that rolled into right field as he would score Wong home for his first career walk-off RBI as he would win the game for the Sox 5-4 in 12 innings.
That was the Sox’s second walk-off of the season as Tyler O’Neil had a walk-off bloop RBI single on Sunday night baseball against the Chicago Cubs on April 28.
The Sox have evened up the series against the Rays at one apiece between the teams, as they will look to carry the momentum into the games on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday’s game will have Tanner Houck on the mound for the Sox as it will be a 7:10 first pitch on NESN/NESN360.