Tampa Bay Built the Better Box Score

The Rays scored twice in the second, answered Boston’s immediate response with three runs in the fourth and carried a 5-3 lead into the seventh. Jonny DeLuca then hit a solo homer to make it 6-3.

Tampa Bay had 10 hits. Boston had six. The Rays had created more traffic, produced runs in three different innings and seemed ready to become the team that finally stopped Boston’s streak from becoming its own weather system.

Then the bottom of the seventh arrived and made the first six innings look like supporting documentation.

Boston Needed One Clean Opening

Andruw Monasterio scored on Masataka Yoshida’s groundout. Ceddanne Rafaela doubled home Jarren Duran, cutting Tampa Bay’s lead to 6-5. Wilyer Abreu followed with a two-run homer to right-center, and Fenway went from concern to regional declaration in three plate appearances.

Abreu had already hit a solo homer in the third. He finished 2-for-3 with two runs, three RBIs and a walk, squeezing most of Boston’s offense out of two swings.

Jahmai Jones also hit a two-run homer in the second. The Red Sox did not need a parade of singles. They needed their limited contact to arrive with people on base and the game still close enough to flip. Their six hits arrived with maximum inconvenience.

The Rays Let the Advantage Expire

Ian Seymour allowed three runs in three innings, but Tampa Bay’s bullpen protected the lead until the seventh. Garrett Cleavinger entered with the Rays ahead and absorbed the decisive damage.

Boston starter Patrick Sandoval allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits over five innings. Ryan Watson gave up DeLuca’s homer but stayed long enough to receive the win. Garrett Whitlock handled a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman earned his 21st save.

For Tampa Bay, the frustration is not that the lineup failed. The Rays scored six times and outhit Boston by four. The frustration is that a resourceful club carried a three-run lead into the seventh and still watched the entire margin vanish before recording the third out.

The Desk Metric: Four of Seven

Boston scored four of its seven runs in the seventh inning, creating a Seventh-Inning Run Share of 57%.

That concentration is the point. The Red Sox were not steadily better all afternoon. They were devastating in the one inning that decided the result, which is how a team wins 12 straight without requiring every game to resemble the previous 11.

The Completely Unbiased Verdict

Desk ruling: Boston’s streak has moved beyond simple momentum and into full civic scheduling. The Red Sox were outhit, trailed by three and still found the exact inning required. Tampa Bay built the better box score; Abreu built the better ending.