TAMPA — Instant reactions from the Red Sox‘ 7-4 win over the Rays on Tuesday here at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
1) Alex Bregman had a huge game. He went 5-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs. He set a new career-high for hits in a game. His previous high — four hits — he did 10 times.
The right-handed hitter lifted a 366-foot home run to right-center field in the third inning, putting the Red Sox ahead 4-1. He did it again in the seventh inning with a 403-foot blast the opposite way.
Bregman had an RBI single in the first inning to make it 1-0 and an RBI double in the fourth to make it 6-1.
2) Jarren Duran — who led all Red Sox hitters in extra-base hits with 83 last year — finally connected for his first home run this season. Manager Alex Cora said Monday that he wanted to see Duran start to hit the ball to left-center field again like he had done on the first road trip. Duran did just that with his 388-foot, 101.8 mph two-run blast in the second inning. It put Boston ahead 3-0. Duran connected on a 96.6 mph four-seam fastball from Rays right-handed starter Ryan Pepiot.
3) Ceddanne Rafaela hasn’t done much with the bat this season but he entered with two defensive runs saved in 123 ⅓ innings in center field. He contributed both ways in this one. His RBI single (105 mph off the bat) put Boston ahead 5-1 in the third inning.
His diving catch on Jake Mangum’s 259-foot line drive to center field with two men on base ended the fourth inning and kept the score at 6-2.
4) The offense finally woke up with 12 hits. Everyone in the starting lineup but Wilyer Abreu and Kristian Campbell had at least one hit. Abreu did reach base once on a walk.
5) It was the first game of Kristian Campbell’s MLB career that he didn’t reach base. He had gone 17 straight games reaching base, the second longest on-base streak to begin a career in Red Sox history behind only George Scott (26 straight games in 1966).
6) Starter Walker Buehler tossed 5 innings and allowed two runs, three hits and three walks while striking out three. He threw 89 pitches, 53 for strikes. His 22 fastballs averaged 94.1 mph and he topped out at 95.7 mph. He mixed in 19 cutters, 15 sinkers, 14 knuckle-curveballs, 11 changeups and eight sweepers, per Statcast.
7) The Red Sox and Rays will play the rubber game of their three-game series here Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. Boston will start lefty Sean Newcomb (0-2, 4.97 ERA). Zack Littell (1-1, 6.88 ERA), who pitched in two games for Boston in 2023, will start for the Rays.
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