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Another Breakdown: Sox Crumple in Seventh

July 14

Josh Winckowski is placed on the COVID lst, as if the Sox didn’t have enough problems, and Darwinzon Hernandez is called up from Triple-A. I don’t know how that club can keep up. Rasmussen pitches for the Rays against Crawford. A runner is at second with one out in the top of the first after a wild pitch but gets stranded by back-to-back strikeouts. Choi hits a two-out double to left in the bottom of the third, but a groundout ends the inning. Raffy Devers wakes people up with a leadoff homer to right in the top of the fourth. Number 20 for him makes it 1-0 Red Sox. A runner is at second with one out in the top of the sixth after a stolen base. He moves to third on a groundout and scores on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 as Martinez moves to second. Martinez scores on Bogaerts’ double to the gap in left-center to make it 3-0. A groundout ends the inning.

Crawford gives the Rays practically nothing, but then Aranda leads off the bottom of the seventh with a ground-rule double to the left-field corner. A single to center puts runners at the corners for Lowe, who doubles down the right-field line to score Aranda and make it 3-1. Crawford is pulled, and his effort will be wasted in the end. Four pitches later, Taylor Walls singles to left to score two and tie it at 3-3. He moves to second on the throw home. A hit batter puts two on, and they both move up on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a single up the middle to make it 5-3. Choi doubles to the left-field corner. Yandy Díaz underestimates Verdugo’s arm, tries to score, and is thrown out at the plate. Choi goes to third on the throw home. A strikeout ends a miserable inning for the Red Sox. The entire Tampa batting order came to the plate. Refsnyder hits a one-out double to left in the top of the eighth that is just out of the reach of the left fielder. Soon after that, there is a pitching change, and Refsnyder is stranded. With a runner at first and nobody out in the top of the ninth, Verdugo doubles to right to score Bogaerts and make it 5-4. A walk puts two on with one out, but that is as close as it comes. Rays sweep the Sox. That All-Star Break can’t come soon enough, can it?