The Tampa Bay Rays aim to keep their momentum rolling in Boston this weekend.
After securing an 8-4 victory in the series opener on Thursday, the Rays will pursue their eighth consecutive win and 14th in 15 games when their four-game set against the Red Sox continues Friday.
Tampa Bay’s recent surge has been impressive. Although the pitching staff allowed more than three runs for the first time in 14 games on Thursday, the offense exploded for 13 hits. The Rays took the lead for good on Chandler Simpson’s pinch-hit two-run single in the sixth inning before adding three runs over the final two frames.
“We know who we are,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve reached a point where we understand how to win games. I’m really pleased. They should be proud of the way they’ve gone about it and found different ways to win.”
Simpson emerged as the latest offensive hero despite not starting. He added an insurance RBI triple in the eighth, securing his 14th multi-hit game in the team’s first 37 contests.
Yandy Diaz also reached a milestone, becoming the 20th Cuban-born player to achieve 1,000 career hits. He doubled and scored on Junior Caminero’s homer in the ninth.
“The camaraderie across all facets—pitching, defense, hitting, power, small ball, base running—it’s all coming together right now,” Simpson said.
Tampa Bay’s Jesse Scholtens (3-1, 3.18 ERA) will start Friday after earning back-to-back wins behind opener Griffin Jax, who pitched Thursday. Scholtens worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs in his lone start April 20 against the Cincinnati Reds. The 32-year-old right-hander tossed three innings of one-run ball to beat the San Francisco Giants on Saturday in his most recent outing. Scholtens is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA in two career appearances against the Red Sox, both as a reliever.
Boston saw its three-game winning streak—tied for its longest this season—come to an end Thursday. A Jarren Duran double in the eighth was the Red Sox’s only extra-base hit, and they went back-to-back games without a home run. The day started roughly as left fielder Roman Anthony was placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right hand, an injury sustained Monday against the Detroit Tigers.
“Getting the news back and understanding it’s nothing very serious is the best news we could have gotten,” Anthony said.
Connelly Early (2-2, 3.79 ERA) will start for Boston on Friday. The left-hander seeks a bounce-back after allowing five runs on six hits through four innings Saturday against the Houston Astros, tying his shortest outing of the season. Early’s recent start and Thursday’s opener were outliers amid a stretch of strong Red Sox starting pitching, with the rotation surrendering three runs or fewer in nine of the last 12 games.
Tampa Bay built a 3-0 lead off rookie Jake Bennett in the second inning with a rally that included three hits (two infield hits), a walk, and an error.
“The damage in the second is kind of what they do,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said of the Rays. “They get people on base, put the ball in play, and try to bunt.”
Early faced the Rays for the first time in his third major league start on Sept. 21, 2025, allowing three runs (two earned) in four innings and taking the loss.
