ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Red Sox are off to a winning start in their most critical two-week stretch of the season to date.
Get familiar with the Rays and Yankees, Boston fans. They're the only two teams you'll see until Kansas City visits Fenway Park during the first full week of August. The American League East race and the wild card picture could both be more clear by that time, making these results all the more important.
Eduardo Rodriguez was fabulous again and his offense broke out after being blanked the previous afternoon by the lowly Orioles. Boston scored seven times in the top of the third inning, more than enough support for the left-hander in a 9-4 victory over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.
Rodriguez continues to be just about automatic on the mound for the Red Sox. Boston has won 16 of his last 19 starts and improved to 12-0 this season when he completes at least six innings. The Red Sox have dropped just one of the last 24 games where Rodriguez records at least 18 outs.
Infield singles by Guillermo Heredia and Mike Brosseau were all Tampa Bay could manage through seven innings against Rodriguez. The Rays didn't advance a man beyond first base and hit just two balls to the outfield. Rodriguez has pitched to a trim 3.03 earned-run average in his last 11 starts.
Five straight Boston hitters reached base and scored with one out in the third. Marco Hernandez singled inside the third-base bag, Mookie Betts drew a walk and Rafael Devers sent a liner up the gap in left-center for a two-run double. Xander Bogaerts followed with a walk and J.D. Martinez landed the first heavy blow of the night, smashing a three-run homer to deep center.
That gave the Red Sox a 5-0 lead, and the rally wasn't over just yet. Andrew Benintendi ran into a hanging curveball one batter later and sent a towering fly to right for a solo shot, making it 6-0. Sam Travis jumped on the next pitch and sent it to deep center, back-to-back solo shots that staked Boston to a 7-0 cushion.
The Red Sox added a single run in the fourth on a looping double to shallow right by Bogaerts, completing their damage against Jalen Beeks. Boston gave the left-hander his big league debut last June 7 in a 7-2 loss against the Tigers at Fenway Park. Detroit plated five runs in the first inning and six in all against Beeks, who was tagged with the loss and eventually dealt to the Rays for Nathan Eovaldi.
Beeks carried a perfect 5-0 record and a fine 2.78 earned-run average into Monday's start, doing all of his work to date out of the bullpen. He retired seven of the first eight men he faced before the floodgates opened, and he was chased after just 3 2/3 innings. Beeks was charged with eight earned runs � he'd allowed just 20 through his first 64 2/3 innings this season.
The lone real hiccup for the Red Sox came in the eighth inning. Eovaldi made his first appearance since April 17 and was roughed up, as Travis d'Arnaud and Austin Meadows each drove RBI doubles and Yandy Diaz grounded an RBI single back through the middle. Matt Barnes was required to retire Willy Adames for the final out, Martinez added an RBI double in the top of the ninth and Josh Taylor was able to avoid disaster in the bottom half.
