By The Tampa Bay Rays saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end in Boston Friday Night as the Boston Red Sox shut out the Rays 2-0.
It was the first time in 38 games that the Rays had been shut out.
Boston Rookie Connerlly Early was sharp from the outset, allowing just four hits through seven innings of work. The Boston bullpen did the rest, shutting down the Rays’ offense the rest of the way.
The big threat for the Rays came in the fourth inning when Tampa loaded the bases with no outs. Ryan Vilade struck out, and Junior Camienero ended the threat and the inning by grounding into a double play.
Manager Kevin Cash had high praise for Early after the four-hit shutout and bemoaned the fact that the Rays couldn’t get anything going with the bases loaded.
“We’ve got to find a way to capitalize. I know that. The guys know that. But you’ve got to give credit to Connelly Early. He threw a heck of a ball game, and that inning made some big pitches.”
Rays’ third basemen summed up the feeling of the entire offense on Friday Night. “He did a great job. He took the bat out of our hands.”
Jesse Scholtens started for the Rays and took the loss; he is now 3-2 on the season.
There was not a lot that Scholtens did wrong, except for the two pitches he would like to have back to Wily Abreu and Ceddane Rafela that were hit over the wall for home runs
“I think pretty much from the get-go control wasn’t there, command was off,” Scholtens said. “I think that’s part of what led to those two home runs ultimately. Fortunately, that was all they were able to get.”
The New York Yankees also lost, so the Rays lost no ground in the American League East. The Rays remain a half game behind the first-place Yankees at 25-13.
The Rays are still the surprise team in baseball and are slowly gaining respect around the league.
Game three of the weekend series at Fenway Park, Saturday Afternoon. Nick Martinez (3-1, 1.71 ERA) will start for the Rays, and Payton Tolle (1-1, 2.04 ERA) will start for the Red Sox.
—On Thursday Night, Yandy Diaz collected two hits that were his 999th and 1,000th of his career, placing him in elite company with several Hall of Famers and Cuban-born players.
Diaz is now the 20th Cuban-born player to reach that milestone. Diaz joins a list that includes Tony Perez, Minnie Minoso, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Alexei Ramirez, and others.
