Rays 'step it up,' rebound with sweep of Sox

July 15th, 2022
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ST. PETERSBURG -- As the Rays licked their wounds, literal and metaphorical, following an injury-riddled three-game sweep at the hands of the last-place Reds on Sunday in Cincinnati, infielder  was already confident they’d bounce back against the Red Sox.

Why? Because the Rays tend to play better against better teams, Díaz said, adding: “Something happens when we play against the teams that are this good, and we just step it up.”

They did exactly that.

Even as their injuries kept piling up, the Rays responded with one of their best series of the season and capped a four-game sweep of the Red Sox with a come-from-behind 5-4 win on Thursday night at Tropicana Field. It was Tampa Bay’s third four-game sweep of Boston, a feat also accomplished at Fenway Park from Aug. 10-13, 2020, and April 16-19, 2010.

“Very tough to do, especially against a really good team,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We feel a lot better than we did when we were getting on a plane in Cincinnati, that's for sure.”

Having won nine of their past 13 games, with a 9-1 record against American League East opponents during that stretch, the Rays are nine games over .500 (49-40) for the first time in a month. They’ve also built up a 1 1/2-game lead atop the AL Wild Card standings as they enter the final weekend before the All-Star break.

“They're a really good team. We've got some good games coming up against them in the second half, and we've got to be ready to play,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “But any time you can come out and win four in a row against a team like that in our division is really good.”

The series finale didn’t get off to a particularly encouraging start for the Rays, though. Right-hander pitched well enough, allowing only a solo homer to Rafael Devers before the Red Sox scored two more runs against him in the sixth. But Tampa Bay had no answers (and only three hits) against Boston starter Kutter Crawford through six innings.

When the seventh inning rolled around, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora elected to stick with Crawford after he’d retired 10 straight batters, something changed for the Rays. The way Díaz put it was that their “bats were just a little asleep” the first six innings. And in the seventh?

“The bats woke up a little bit there,” he noted.

As Jonathan Aranda stepped to the plate to lead off the seventh, Díaz said in the Rays’ dugout they were due for a big inning if the rookie second baseman got on base. Right on cue, Aranda greeted Crawford with a double to left, then Christian Bethancourt slapped a single to center. Up came Josh Lowe, who pulled an RBI double to right that chased Crawford.

“I think the third time through, you've studied the pitcher a little bit more,” Aranda said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “You feel a little bit more comfortable, and it’s a little more comfortable at-bat.”

That keep-the-line-moving approach often eluded the Rays as their lineup struggled through June, batting .233 with a .660 OPS as a team while averaging 3.7 runs per game. But they’ve displayed it more consistently this month, collectively slashing .272/.351/.421 while scoring 5.2 runs per game, and it showed up again in the seventh inning as Tampa Bay’s first five batters reached and all scored.

“Good lineups figure out ways to do that,” Cash said. “You can tell why Kutter Crawford has pitched well against us. He's got good stuff. The cutter and fastball, our guys are not picking it up, but like that we put enough pressure on him to get him out of the game.”

Facing reliever John Schreiber, who hadn’t allowed a run in 19 appearances since June 1, Walls swatted an 0-2 fastball into left field for a game-tying two-run single. The rally continued as Luke Raley was hit by a pitch, Brett Phillips dropped a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position and Díaz chopped the go-ahead two-run single over drawn-in second baseman Jeter Downs.

“Hits were contagious that inning,” Walls said. “Up and down the lineup, I think everybody just kind of took a breath, didn't try to do too much and just had a really good at-bat.”

Relievers Brooks Raley, Jason Adam and Jalen Beeks held on, with Beeks allowing one run in the ninth before escaping the self-made jam. That gave Tommy Romero, who pitched a scoreless seventh, his first Major League win -- and a celebratory postgame shower in the clubhouse.

It was the third time this season the Rays won after trailing by three runs or more. They previously did so against the A’s on April 12 and May 3. Call it a comeback win to cap a bounceback series.

“When we have a series like we did against Cincinnati, it's hard to stay positive,” Díaz said through Navarro. “But as long as we stayed positive, we knew we were going into a good series against Boston.”

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Senior Reporter Adam Berry covers the Rays for MLB.com and covered the Pirates from 2015-21.