Rays' Winning Streak Ends After Red Sox Rough Up Yarbrough, Armstrong
BOSTON, Mass. — For the first time in two weeks, the Tampa Bay Rays lost a game in regulation on Friday night, losing 9-8 to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Rays' pitching, which has been so good during this August run, didn't answer the bell, with Ryan Yarbrough and Shawn Armstrong getting roughed up.
The loss ended a six-game winning streak and put a halt to an 11-2 run where the only two losses came in extra innings, The Rays still lead the wild-card race — they're a half-game ahead of both Toronto and Seattle — and are three games clear of Baltimore. They fell to 8.5 behind the New York Yankees, who won late Friday night in Oakland.
Yarbrough came on to pitch in the second inning after Rays manager Kevin Cash used JT Chargois as the opener. Yarbrough has been pitching well — only five earned runs in his past 21 2/3 innings, a 2.07 ERA — but got knocked around by the Red Sox. He allowed five runs in 3 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and two walks and blowing a 4-1 Rays lead.
Shawn Armstrong, who's also been hot, didn't fare well either. He gave up three runs in just 1 1/3 innings as the Red Sox pulled out to an 8-4 lead. Armstrong had only allowed two runs in his past 10 2/3 innings, a 1.69 ERA, prior to Friday night.
They've been good, but they just didn't have in on Friday night. It happens, especially with that Boston lineup that occasionally heats up in their old ballpark. Xander Bogaerts had the biggest blast, a three-run homer over the Green Monster off of Armstrong in the sixth.
The Rays certainly scored enough runs to usually win. They had four runs early, getting off to a fast start when Yandy Díaz hit the first pitch of the game for a home run, his eighth homer of the year. Ji-Man Choi, who's had his own struggles for the past month, had a two-run homer in the second, and Harold Ramirez's sacrifice fly made it 4-1 in the third inning, all off of Boston starter Michael Wacha (9-1).
Wacha, who pitched for the Rays a year ago, had his third straight solid outing after returning from injury.
"(The game) efinitely didn't the start the way I had planned, but was able to make some minor adjustments with the mechanics," said Wacha. "With those changes, it helped make the off-speed pitches sharper and the fastball command got a lot better after that."
They added four more runs late, but it wasn't quite enough. Trailing 9-4, they scored four times in the eighth inning thanks an RBI single from David Peralta and a three-run homer from center fielder Jose Siri. It was his first home run since being acquired a month ago from Houston.
The was just the third time that Boston has beaten the Rays this season in 11 tries. The two teams play again on Saturday, with Tampa Bay's Jeffrey Springs taking on veteran Rich Hill, who pitched for the Rays in the first few months of the 2021 season. The game starts at 4:10 p.m. ET.
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.