ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays said they didn’t want to make too much of their four-game series against the rabid rival Red Sox that opened Monday at Tropicana Field, since they had a whole month of big games ahead.
But they did a good job of taking charge early, Brandon Lowe homering on the first pitch and Luis Patino delivering a strong start and then rolling to a 6-1 victory before an announced gathering of 6,753.
The win was the Rays’ eighth straight and 12th in their last 13 games, improving their American League-best record to 83-48 (a franchise-record 35 games over .500) and maintaining at least a six-game East division lead over the Yankees, who played later in Anaheim, Calif.
The Rays widened their margin to nine game over the third-place Red Sox, who have other issues, as well, with pitchers Martin Perez and Matt Barnes joining two others on the COVID-19-related injured list. After the four-game series at the Trop, the teams will meet for three more next week in Boston.
Patino continued to improve and impress, working 5-2/3 innings, allowing the one run, five hits and a walk while striking out five. The Rays were bolstered by the return of relievers J.P. Feyereisen and Pete Fairbanks, who had strong first outings after coming off the injured list.
The Rays took the lead as quickly as they could, Lowe blasting Nick Pivetta’s first pitch 441 feet over the centerfield fence for his team-leading 32nd homer. It was the fourth-longest homer of Lowe’s career, a 459-foot shot last year at the top of the list.
The Red Sox briefly pulled even with one out in the second when red-hot Bobby Dalbec homered for the fourth time in a span of 12 at-bats.
But the Rays, taking advantage of some Sox sloppiness, kept adding on.
They got one in the third when Lowe walked, went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Austin Meadows, who upped his RBI total to 92.
They got another in the fourth after Kevin Kiermaier doubled with two outs. Pivetta struck out Mike Zunino for the third out, but the pitch got away from catcher Christian Vazquez and the inning continued with runners on the corners. Lowe made them pay, bouncing a ball over first that second baseman Yairo Munoz gloved but threw errantly, the play initially scored an error then changed to a hit.
The Rays made it 4-1 in the sixth when they loaded the bases on a Kiermaier single and two walks, then got the run when third baseman Rafael Devers misplayed Nelson Cruz’s grounder.
The Rays added two more in the eighth on a single by Wander Franco, who extended his on-base streak to 30 games, tying Giants Hall of Famer Mel Ott for the fifth-longest among players 20 and under.
