Red Sox’ bats silent, losing streak up to four with 5-1 loss to Rays
The Boston Red Sox have lost four in a row after a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. A combination of quiet bats at the top of the lineup and bad breaks for starter Nathan Eovaldi led to the loss.
Eovaldi cruised through the first three innings before the Rays got to him for two runs in the fourth. Rays right fielder Hunter Renfroe popped up in foul territory to third base, but Tropicana’s infamous catwalks came into play as the ball hit one of them to be ruled a dead ball. Renfroe knocked a two-run double two pitches later.
As for the Red Sox offense, the top-4 hitters in the lineup – Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts – combined to go 2-for-16 with seven strikeouts and 12 runners stranded on base. Rays starter Charlie Morton limited the Sox to one earned run in 5.2 innings, striking out five.
The lone highlight for the Red Sox was a diving catch by center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who tracked down a fly ball by Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe. MLB StatCast measured Bradley’s distance covered at 73 feet and his catch probability at 25 percent.
The Red Sox fell to 3-8 on the truncated 2020 season after the loss to the Rays. Entering Wednesday, they sit in last place in the American League East and six games behind the first-place Yankees.
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