BOSTON _ The Rays began their longest road trip of the season Monday night in Boston still searching for their first victory away from Tropicana Field.
After going winless on their first road trip of the season, Fenway Park would seem to be the right place for the Rays to break out of their funk. After all, they entered the night having won nine of their past 10 in Boston.
The Rays' previous road woes were characterized by an offense that couldn't get going, by games full of frustrating at-bats. But they broke out of their road funk Monday _ the first game of a three-city, 10-game, 11-day trip _ in a big way, putting together some of their best at-bats of the season.
The result was a hard-fought 8-7 win over the Red Sox for their first road win of the season in six tries. And all it took was 4 hours and 24 minutes.
Kevin Kiermaier gave Tampa Bay a 7-5 lead with a two-run double off Boston lefty Jeffrey Springs in the seventh, one of the best examples of the Rays bouncing back.
Kiermaier fought back from an 0-2 count, fouling off four two-strike pitches before ending a nine-pitch at-bat by slapping a 2-2 sinker the other way into the left-center gap.
Then there was Yandy Diaz's nine-pitch walk in the sixth, which set up Ji-Man Choi's go-ahead hit.
And Manuel Margot, who entered the game just 3-for-33 on the season, bested his season hit total with four _ including an RBI double in the eighth for the eventual winning run _ and had a walk
The Rays forced Boston to throw 199 pitches on the night.
With the win, the Rays (9-8) moved above .500 for the first time since July 30.
They took their first lead in the bottom of the sixth on Choi's cue-shot RBI double. Choi, who is experimenting with switch-hitting and was hitting right-handed against the left-handed Springs, poked an outside changeup down the rightfield line to score Michael Perez.
But Red Sox tied it in the bottom half when Kevin Plawecki followed Michael Chavis' leadoff double with an opposite-field single just inside the rightfield line.
The Rays rallied from a 4-1 third-inning hole to tie it. Perez, the walkoff hero Sunday against the Yankees, hit a two-run single in the fourth and was initially called safe at home on Austin Meadows' ensuing triple.
Perez appeared to evade Plawecki's tag at home _ plate umpire Stu Schuerwater called him safe _ but the call was overturned after a Red Sox challenge.
The Rays tied it in the fifth when Joey Wendle tripled into the left-center nook of Fenway's outfield, scoring Diaz from first.
Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough settled in after allowing three runs in the first, retiring nine of his next 10, the only hit coming on J.D. Martinez's solo homer in the fourth.
Yarbrough, who lasted 4? innings for his shortest start of the season, fell behind quickly in the first, allowing four of the first six hitters he faced to reach base.
Yarbrough was the beneficiary of some fine defense. In the second, centerfielder Kiermaier made a leaping grab in front of the warning track on Jonathan Arauz's hard liner. Kiermaier seemed to misjudge where the wall was in a triangular part of the outfield in left-center, but he still made the catch.
And second baseman Brandon Lowe made a sliding back-handed grab up the middle on Xander Bogarts' hit up the middle, quickly getting to his knees and throwing to first on time.
It marked the 14th time in 17 games this season that the Rays had trailed, including 12 times facing multiple-run deficits.
The Red Sox cut the lead to one in the eighth on Arauz's two-run, two-out single off lefty reliever Jose Alvarado.
Boston had the winning run at the plate twice in the ninth after Martinez's one-out single off Andrew Kittredge, but Kittredge induced a flyout from Bogaerts and struck out Chavis to end the game.
