ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays had to get creative with their pitching plans on Monday night.
This spot in the rotation belonged to Steven Matz, but the veteran left-hander moved to the bullpen on Saturday. The club kept right-hander Mason Englert on the roster in a bulk-inning role, and he was stretching and getting loose in the bullpen throughout the night.
But manager Kevin Cash never had to call Englert’s number. The rest of the relief corps had it under control, as six pitchers combined to allow only four hits and one walk while striking out 10 in the Rays’ 3-1 win over the Red Sox at Tropicana Field. It was only Tampa Bay’s fourth win in the past 14 games.
Cash made no guarantees about the Rays’ strategy behind left-hander Ian Seymour before the game, only saying, “Ian's pitching, and then we'll go from there, depending on the score.”
Seymour, who was a starting pitching prospect in the Minors, allowed just one run while striking out five over four innings. The lefty was immediately given a lead when Yandy Díaz smashed his fourth leadoff home run of the season, but he gave it back when Marcelo Mayer launched a leadoff homer to right-center field in the third.
Still, Seymour provided the Rays with all the length they needed in what was ostensibly an “opener” assignment. Mayer’s homer was the only hit he surrendered, and he walked just one while cruising through four innings on 55 pitches.
The Rays pulled ahead in the fifth, when new addition Austin Slater reached on an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by Jonathan Aranda off Red Sox starter Connelly Early. Aranda’s 45th RBI of the season snapped a 2-for-24 slump.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s bullpen kept putting up zeroes. Right-hander Casey Legumina retired all four batters he faced, and lefty Cam Booser picked up the next three outs. Kevin Kelly put two runners in scoring position but induced a grounder from Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Junior Caminero made a play to get the Rays out of the inning unscathed.
Left-hander Garrett Cleavinger handled the eighth inning, and after being granted a little more breathing room by a Díaz sacrifice fly, de facto closer Bryan Baker picked up his 17th save in the ninth.