Red Sox 4, Rays 3: Sox outlast Rays in extras

It took ten innings, but the Red Sox managed to outlast the Rays Friday night, with Mookie Betts and Brock Holt combining to seal the extra innings win.

Holt would give the Red Sox their first chance for a run in the first, drawing a one-out walk against Alex Colome, who proceeded to walk David Ortiz as well. But unproductive outs from Betts, Bogaerts, and Sandoval left that first threat unproductive, leaving the Sox waiting until the second  to strike. There, Mike Napoli drew a leadoff walk--the first of three free passes he would take on the night--and quickly scored when Alejandro De Aza flipped a double just past a diving Kevin Kiermaier in left-center. De Aza would come in to score himself on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, Red Sox.

The Rays would respond in the bottom of the second against Rick Porcello, with Nick Krauss shooting a low line drive past Napoli and into right to score Logan Forsythe from second. Curt Casali grounded out to end the inning and strand two baserunners, though, and the Sox would score again in the fourth. Once again, a leadoff walk from Mike Napoli would spark the rally, with Blake Swihart moving him to third with a single. This time, though, the Sox would get inventive to bring Napoli home, with Swihart taking off for second and Napoli breaking for home as the throw went to second. Swihart was out, but Napoli came in to score without a play.

Porcello would hold the lead for the Sox into the sixth, with Swihart gunning down Forsythe in the fourth and Kiermaier grounding into a double play in the fifth to help the effort. But the Rays got to Porcello quickly in the sixth, with Joey Butler singling and Evan Longoria doubling to lead off the inning, and from there it was just a matter of a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to bring both home, tying the game.

The Rays would threaten a walkoff win in the ninth when Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a double against Craig Breslow. But after an intentional walk of Jake Elmore, Breslow struck Curt Casali out and got a ground ball that, if it put Cabrera just 90 feet away, also provided the second out. That brought Alexi Ogando into the game and ensured that Joey Butler's fly out to right ended the inning instead of giving Cabrera a chance to score on a sacrifice fly.

Given three more outs to work with, the Red Sox made them count. Mookie Betts fell behind 1-2 to Steve Geltz, but hooked a high-inside fastball just fair to left for a leadoff double, extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Not looking to make things too suspenseful, Brock Holt quickly shot a line drive to left. The single looked like it might lead to a close play at home, but Betts was plenty fast to beat a fairly weak throw to score the go-ahead run. Brock Holt ended up caught in a run-down, leaving later singles from David Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval unable to produce another run, but with Koji Uehara nailing down a 1-2-3 ninth, the Sox left Tropicana Field with a win.