Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe lashed two of Tampa Bay’s four homers on consecutive fifth-inning pitches and the Rays won their 11th straight game to start the season, beating the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Diaz went 3-for-3 with a walk and three runs. Brandon Lowe was 2-for-4 and homered in his fourth straight game, and Isaac Paredes and Josh Lowe hit home runs.
In beating Boston for the 11th straight time on their domed turf, the undefeated Rays slugged four homers to lift their majors-best total to 29. The 29 dingers through the first 11 games tied them for the major league record with the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals.
The Rays tied the 1981 Oakland A’s for the third-longest winning streak to start a season. The top mark, 13-0, is shared by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.
Over five-plus stout innings, Tampa Bay starter Shane McClanahan (3-0) yielded just one run on two hits and a career-high-tying four walks but struck out nine.
In his return from September hip surgery, Boston’s Garrett Whitlock (0-1) surrendered five runs on eight hits (three homers) in his season debut. The right-hander fanned five without issuing a walk.
Reese McGuire came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI as the Red Sox doubled the total three hits they managed in a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay on Monday.
Against Whitlock in the first, Tampa Bay scored when Wander Franco doubled on a shallow fly that center fielder Rob Refsnyder seemed to snare on a full dive, but the ball bounced out and plated Diaz.
In the second, Josh Lowe produced a bases-empty, two-out single, stole second easily and sprinted home on Vidal Brujan’s liner to center.
Paredes blasted his third homer on a towering shot to left field for a 3-0 lead in the fourth.
In the next frame, Diaz roped his third deep shot to left. Brandon Lowe followed on the next pitch by rocketing a 417-foot shot to right-center for his fourth long ball.
The Rays’ bid to become the first club since the 2012 San Francisco Giants to craft four consecutive shutouts ended in the sixth when Masataka Yoshida’s double-play grounder scored Rafael Devers.
Josh Lowe notched his second deep shot in the seventh, and Diaz scored later in the frame on Triston Casas’ fielding error.
McGuire hit a two-out RBI single in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
