Red Sox offense lifeless; held to one hit in loss to Rays
The Red Sox offense was unable to solve Rays starter Zack Littell and relievers Edwin Uceta and Garrett Cleavinger.
The Rays trio on the mound retired the final 19 batters in order to defeat the Red Sox 2-0 in just two hours and seven minutes.
The lifeless Red Sox offense struck out 11 times, failing to work a walk in the game while only generating one base runner. Rookie infielder Nick Sogard collected a single in the third inning. Which broke up a string of eight in a row retired by Littell.
It was the only baserunner that Littell allowed. He retired 21 of the 22 he faced over seven scoreless frames while striking out seven. Littell surrendered only three hard-hit balls, and all three were outs. He was incredibly efficient, facing 22 batters and only threw 24 balls.
Danny Jansen and Trevor Story struck out twice, and Rafael Devers (0-for-3) whiffed three times. Boston only worked three-ball counts just four times and made six outs in the game swinging at the first pitch.
Devers went 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts while also grounding into one double play during this three-game series down at the Trop.
“Right now we’re collectively slumping,” manager Alex Cora said.
Jarren Duran has been lost at the plate in the month of September. He’s hit .221 with a .493 OPS, and the speedy outfielder hasn’t homered since Aug. 30, and his last stolen base was Aug. 21.
“It’s baseball, man,” Duran said. “Every guy in this room is trying their hardest, which could just be our thing right now; we’re trying too hard. At the end of the day, it’s baseball. He was just hitting his spots, locating and stuff like that. He just had us today.”
Duran is also feeling the effects of playing every game this season, outside of his two-game suspension back in August.
"Physically, I’m hurting. I’m sore,” he said. “I don’t like to use that as an excuse. I’m not playing good baseball right now, and that’s on me.”
Boston acquired Littell last season from the Rangers for cash considerations last May 5, then added him to its 40-man roster (and active roster) the following day. He appeared in two games and allowed three runs in three innings before Boston designated him for assignment last May 10.
The Rays claimed Littell off waivers, and since then he’s appeared in 54 games, posting an 11-15 record with a 3.70 ERA with 206 strikeouts over 238 2/3 innings.
Littell was moved from the bullpen to the rotation to open the season. The righty told reporters that the start of the season was “a lot of trial and error.” He owned a 4.26 ERA in the first half and changed his routine some and has flipped the script, recording a 2.15 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break.
“I think if you step back and look at it, which I'll definitely do after the season... that's impressive, especially being the first one,” Littell said on his first full season as a starter. “I think I'll appreciate being able to do that in my first year as a full-time starter and look to build on that next year.
“As far as going through all the stuff that I've gone through, it really kind of gives you that resilient attitude where it's just kind of feeling like you can go through anything and come out of the other side better for it.”
Brayan Bello (14-8) pitched well in the loss. He allowed just one run, five hits, and two walks while striking out seven in 5 2/3 innings. He tossed 101 pitches, 62 of them for strikes.
The Rays went up 1-0 in the third inning. Jose Siri and Dylan Carlson hit back-to-back singles with one out. With runners at the corners for Tampa Bay, second baseman Brandon Lowe hit an RBI sac fly to right field, plating the game's first run.
Wilyer Abreu had a chance to throw out Siri at the plate, but he caught the ball running to his right and was unable to make a good throw to the plate.
Tampa Bay added another run off reliever Justin Slaten in the seventh inning.
“I think it was a good outing for me. I gave everything out there,” Bello said via a translator after the game.
Boston heads home to Fenway Park to start a three-game series against the Twins on Friday night. The Red Sox trail the Twins and Tigers by four games for the final American League wild-card spot.
