Ortiz Homers, Red Sox Beat Rays 2-1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox won their ninth straight game on Friday night, getting a first-inning home run from David Ortiz and letting it stand in a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Ortiz, greeted to cheers in his final series at the Trop, tagged Rays starter Chris Archer (8-19) with a two-run home run, in what would end up as Archer's 11th straight loss against Boston over a span of 16 starts. Drew Pomeranz (3-5) threw five innings and the bullpen held Tampa Bay to one hit in the final four.
Boston (90-64) came in with a 5 1/2-game lead in the American League East and held that lead on Toronto, now with eight games to play. The Rays (65-88) have dropped four of their last five, and are now 7-10 against the Red Sox this season. Archer set a franchise record with his 19th loss and now leads the majors as well.
The Rays got a leadoff double from Evan Longoria to put the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, but Brad Ziegler got three outs for his 19th save, including a strikeout swinging against Mikie Mahtook, who had homered for the Rays' only run. Ziegler walked Corey Dickerson intentionally with two outs to get to rookie Juniel Querecuto, who made his major league debut Thursday and struck out to end the game.
Rays starter Chris Archer, who had lost 10 straight decisions against the Red Sox coming in, got into trouble in the first.
Archer walked Xander Bogaerts and then giving up a huge two-run home run to David Ortiz, who is opening his final series at Tropicana Field. Ortiz's 37th home run of the season bounced off a catwalk high above right field and gave Boston a 2-0 lead.
The Rays got one run back in the second, as Mahtook hit a solo home run to left -- his second of the season -- to cut the lead to 2-1. Mahtook added two more hits in the first five frames. He had a .173 batting average coming in.
Tampa Bay managed only four hits in the first six innings against Pomeranz. The Rays threatened to tie the game in the fifth, with Brad Miller hitting a double and Mahtook following with a single.
With one out, Corey Dickerson hit a grounder and couldn't beat out the double play, allowing Boston to escape with the lead.
NOTES: The eight-game winning streak for Boston is its longest in September in 30 years, since the 1986 team that made it to the World Series. All eight wins have come by four runs or less. ... The Red Sox are the first team in MLB history to score exactly five runs in five straight games, all wins. The last team to win five straight games while scoring the exact same number of runs in each was the 1989 Brewers, who scored seven runs in each of six straight wins. ... The Rays gave out their team honors at their Baseball Writers' Association of America luncheon. 3B Evan Longoria was honored with the Don Zimmer Award (team MVP) while LHP Blake Snell was named Outstanding Rookie. Prospect Casey Gillaspie was Minor League Player of the Year and RHP Brent Honeywell was Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
