Rays Beat David Price, Red Sox 12-8
BOSTON -- The second Boston marathon of the week lasted four hours and 16 minutes at Fenway Park on Thursday.
On the first warm day of the season, there were 20 runs on 30 hits, 16 of them for extra bases, off 11 pitchers. There were four errors, the same guy got hit by pitches three times to tie a major league record, and 24 men were left on base.
"That was one of those games where if you don't win ... it has a chance to set you back," Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria said after his team escaped with a 12-8 victory for a 2-1 series win. "It was an emotional rollercoaster. No wins are ever easy here."
The Rays fell behind former teammate David Price 5-1 in the first inning, rallied to lead 8-5, blew the lead and rallied again, in a rare display of offense for a team known for its pitching.
"We don't normally do stuff like that -- 12 runs I know is kind of rare for us but it just goes to show the capability that we have on our squad," said Curt Casali.
Both Longoria and Casali homered off Price -- Casali with three of his 11 career homers against his former teammate (briefly and fellow Vanderbilt Commordore (not at the same time). Only Jose Bautista (five in 52 at-bats), and Curtis Granderson and Nelson Cruz (both four, Granderson in 51 at-bats and Cruz 37) have more homers off Price -- and Casali has three in eight at-bats.
"I honestly wish it was somebody else because I like him a lot, he's one of my best friends," said Casali, who had a long single his first time up and has five straight hits off Price.
Longoria was retired his first time up, making him 0-for-10 against Price. But then he homered and doubled, the double part of a six-run fourth inning that chased Price.
"Finally to get a hit off of him. He had pretty much owned me before that," said Longoria, who added that Price had location problems and said, "It is tough because I have so much respect for him."
Steven Souza Jr. snapped an 8-8 tie with an RBI double in the eighth inning.
Tampa Bay took an 8-5 lead in the fourth before the Red Sox (7-8), who scored five runs off Jake Odorizzi in the first inning, came back on a two-run homer by Mookie Betts in the sixth and an RBI double by Travis Shaw in the seventh.
Souza's second RBI hit of the game snapped the tie against debuting right-hander William Cuevas (0-1). Logan Forsythe singled home a run and pinch hitter Corey Dickerson doubled home two more off Noe Ramirez in the ninth.
Reliever Erasmo Ramirez (4-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings and won for the second time in the series. The Red Sox put two men on in the bottom of the ninth and Alex Colome finally ended it with his second save of the series and third of the season.
Tampa's Brandon Guyer, hit by pitches 24 times last season, was nailed three times (to go with two hits). Price got him twice and was angry on the second one. Guyer shrugged that off, saying it's not his "instinct" to get out of the way.
"It's a good pitch. That's a really good pitch," Price said. "And to have that be a hit batter, it's either a strike or it's a hit batter. Makes it tough."
Dustin Pedroia (three hits) hit his first homer of the season, his first in 107 at-bats dating back to last season, and Xander Bogaerts also had three hits for the Red Sox, who had nine extra base hits but finished 4-6 on their first 2016 homestand.
Price, taken off the hook to extend his daytime unbeaten streak to 17 straight (nine wins) allowed eight runs on eight hits and has a 7.06 ERA after his first four starts after signing a $217 million contract.
"That's the best I've felt in my four starts [with Boston] and to me that's the most disappointing thing," Price said. "When you feel as good as I felt I want to be able to go out there and get the results that I expect. And just didn't do that today."
NOTES: Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts, who left Wednesday night's game with left quad tightness, played and went 3-for-4. ... Rays 3B Evan Longoria had lunch with former teammate David Price on Wednesday before facing the left-hander on Thursday. "I've had my struggles with him when he was in Toronto and Detroit," he said. "It was awkward at first, so hopefully I can get a little more accustomed to what he does as a pitcher and make it a little bit easier to have some success." ... LHP Matt Moore opens Tampa Bay's three-game series in New York against the Yankees on Friday night, while Steven Wright works for the Red Sox to open a three-game series at Houston. ... With RHP Joe Kelly on the disabled list, the Red Sox still hadn't named a starter for Sunday's game in Houston. ... Boston mayor Marty Walsh threw out the first pitch Thursday.
