Red Sox fall to Rays 3-1 as Díaz hits leadoff homer

street. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Diaz hit a walk-off homer and drove in two runs as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 on Monday night.

Jonathan Aranda got into the tiebreaker with a single in the fifth inning for the AL East leaders, who had lost five of six.

Diaz put Tampa Bay on the board with his fourth homer of the season, hitting the first pitch off Boston’s Connelly early into the left field seats. Diaz then drove in Taylor Walls on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, when Tampa Bay manufactured an insurance run without a hit.

Aranda’s single scored Austin Slater from third to break a 1-run tie in the fifth inning, chasing down early (5-4). Slater, in his Tampa Bay debut, reached a groundout before stealing second and advancing to third on a groundout.

Rays’ opener, left-hander Ian Seymour, retired the first five batters and did not allow a hit until the third, when Marcelo Mayer tied the score with a solo homer.

But then Seymour laid down his final six hits. He pitched a season-high four innings, allowing one hit and walking five strikeouts. Tampa Bay’s bullpen shut down the Red Sox over the final five innings, yielding just three hits. Casey Legomina (2-0) got the win and Brian Baker made his 17th save.

Aside from Mayer’s home run, only one Red Sox player has reached third base. The Rays improved to 5-0 when using the opener, and 29-1 when leading after seven innings.

Tampa Bay catcher Nick Fortis successfully challenged two pitches to earn hits for Rays relievers, including Caleb Durbin in the seventh with the potential to tie into scoring position. Fortis also threw out Ceddanne Rafaela trying to steal, ending the sixth.

the next

Tampa Bay RHP Nick Martinez (5-2, 2.29 ERA) starts Tuesday versus Red Sox LHP Payton Tolle (3-2, 2.28).