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AP Photo/Chris O’Meara Boston Red Sox’s Masataka Yoshida, of Japan, watches his two-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
AP
11:17 JST, September 5, 2023
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Triston Casas homered and drove in a career-high four runs, Brayan Bello earned his team-leading 11th win and the Boston Red Sox stopped a 13-game losing streak at Tropicana Field by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 on Monday.
Boston’s slide at the dome began on April 23, 2022.
“Nothing special, to be honest with you,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of ending the streak.
Wilyer Abreu had a leadoff double before Justin Turner drew a one-out walk in the sixth inning, ending Aaron Civale’s day. Chris Devenski (3-4) entered and gave up Casas’ three-run shot that put the Red Sox ahead 4-3.
Casas added a run-scoring single and Masataka Yoshida connected on a two-run homer off Andrew Kittredge in the eighth that made it 7-3. Casas has three homers and 11 RBIs during a career-best 11-game hitting streak.
“He’s a good hitter,” Cora said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara Boston Red Sox’s Masataka Yoshida, center, of Japan, celebrates with Triston Casas, left, after Yoshida hit a two-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Catching for Tampa Bay is Christian Bethancourt.
Monday marked the first anniversary of Casas’ major league debut. Two days later, he hit his first big league homer at Tropicana Field.
“We talked about Triston Casas before the game,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s really turned it on, putting together a good season. Laid off a close pitch to put himself in a 1-0 count. Devenski had to throw a strike right there, looked like he was ready for it.”
Bello (11-8) gave up three runs, all in the first, and five hits over six innings.
While the Rays have a comfortable lead for the top AL wild card, Boston moved within 4 1/2 games of Texas for the final spot.
Boston closer Kenley Jansen, who pitched the ninth in a non-save situation, was checked by an athletic trainer with one out but remained in the game.
Cora said Jansen is fine and the issue was that a wrap on his leg was too tight. The right-hander has had some hamstring problems this season.
Civale, acquired from Cleveland on July 31, allowed three runs, two hits and three walks while striking out a career-high 12 during a 98-pitch outing. The right-hander has gone 5 1/3 or fewer innings in five of his six starts with Tampa Bay.
Brandon Lowe grounded a two-run single up the middle and Harold Ramírez had an RBI double down the third-base line off Bello as the Rays took a 3-0 lead in the first.
Bello recorded an out on 11 consecutive batters after Ramírez’s hit. The righty ended his outing by striking out Ramírez with two on to end the sixth.
“It felt good just to keep them at bay like that,” Bello said through a translator. “Give time for the offense to do what they ended up doing. Feels good to keep us in it.”
Civale retired his first 10 batters, six on strikeouts. After a pair of walks in the fourth, Adam Duvall got Boston’s first hit with a two-out RBI single later in the inning.
