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 it seemed like he would play a prominent part in the series opener.
But manager Kevin 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.”
It was a close game from start to finish, and the relief corps had it all under control.
Seymour and five other relievers 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, Tampa Bay’s fourth win in the past 14 games.
“That was awesome. Top to bottom, all the boys did a great job,” left-hander Garrett Cleavinger said. “Kind of a prototypical Rays bullpen win right there.”
Maybe this will prove to be a turning point for a group of relievers that entered the game with a 4.61 ERA as a unit this season. They were efficient and effective from Seymour’s start to de facto closer Bryan Baker’s finish, getting through the game on 118 pitches as Cash played the matchups all night.
“It just shows that from top to bottom, when everyone's rolling, we kind of create matchup nightmares for anybody on the other side,” Cleavinger said. “We've got a lot of different angles, a lot of different stuff coming out, which is awesome.”
It began with Seymour, who provided the Rays with all the length they needed in what was ostensibly an “opener” assignment. A starting pitching prospect in the Minors, Seymour worked in a variety of roles last season before landing in a more typical relief role this year.
But starting still feels natural to him, and it looked that way against Boston.
“I'd say of all of the things I've done, I'm most comfortable doing that,” he said, grinning. “I'm happy to pitch in whatever situation they want me to, like always.”
The lefty was immediately given a lead when Yandy Díaz smashed his fourth leadoff home run of the season on Red Sox starter Connelly Early’s first pitch, but he gave it back when Marcelo Mayer launched a leadoff homer to right-center field in the third.
Mayer’s homer was the only hit Seymour surrendered, though, and he walked just one while cruising through four innings on 55 pitches. Seymour covering that much of the game and exiting with the score tied pushed Cash toward running a more traditional bullpen game.
“Felt like our best chance was probably to try to navigate, piece it together with the guys that were fairly fresh down there,” Cash said.
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 the go-ahead run on a two-out single by Jonathan Aranda.
Aranda’s 45th RBI of the season snapped a 2-for-24 slump and clearly came as a relief.
“I know it's not coming easy for him right now -- it will here soon -- but right now he's just grinding through at-bats,” Cash said of Aranda. “And he's finding ways to help us.”
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.
Legumina has quickly earned the Rays’ trust since coming over in a late-April trade with the Mariners, putting together a 2.08 ERA in 13 appearances. Booser has also impressed in three outings since a promotion from Triple-A Durham, allowing only two hits and a walk with five strikeouts over four innings.
“You're just hoping you can create something and maybe load the bases or something, put them in a spot where the [matchup] lane doesn't work for them after that,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Just weren't able to do it.”
Kevin Kelly put two runners in scoring position in the seventh but induced a grounder from Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Junior Caminero made a play to get the Rays out of the inning unscathed.
Cleavinger handled the eighth inning, and after being granted a little more breathing room by a Díaz sacrifice fly, Baker picked up his 17th save in the ninth to seal the win.
“Anytime he comes in that type of situation, I have 100% confidence in him,” Díaz said of Baker through interpreter Kevin Vera. “He's just been that guy for us.”