Red Sox fall to season-worst 11 games under .500 after 4-3 loss to Rays

The Red Sox are in trouble. 

Boston fell to a season-worst 11 games under .500 on Tuesday night, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Rays at Tropicana Field after a late comeback attempt fizzled out.

For seven innings, the Red Sox offense had no answers for Nick Martinez.

The veteran right-hander carved through Boston’s lineup with remarkable efficiency, needing just 59 pitches to get through six innings and only 73 to complete seven. Martinez allowed six hits and three earned runs without issuing a walk while striking out two.

Three of those six hits came during Boston’s eighth-inning rally.

Trailing 4-1, Caleb Durbin and Isiah Kiner-Falefa opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Marcelo Mayer ripped a two-run double down the first-base line to cut the deficit to one run and chase Martinez from the game.

Tampa Bay immediately turned to reliever Kevin Kelly, who limited the damage.

Jarren Duran grounded out to first base, allowing Mayer to move to third with one out. But the Red Sox couldn’t find the tying run. Ceddanne Rafaela grounded out to second with the infield drawn in, and Wilyer Abreu followed with a groundout to shortstop to end the threat.

That proved to be Boston’s best chance of the night.

Before the eighth inning, the Red Sox had managed just one run, which came on Duran’s RBI single in the third. The run gave Boston a brief 1-0 lead, but the loss dropped the club to 20-11 when scoring first this season.

Martinez was in complete control throughout the night. Eleven of the 21 outs he recorded came on two pitches or fewer. He needed eight pitches or less to complete the first, fifth and seventh innings and never threw more than 14 pitches in any inning.

It was Martinez’s eighth quality start of the season, though his ERA did rise to 2.43, the third-lowest mark in the American League behind the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler and Cleveland’s Parker Messick. More importantly, the Rays improved to 10-3 with the 35-year-old on the mound.

Payton Tolle suffered his toughest outing of the season.

The rookie left-hander allowed a season-high four runs over six innings, surrendering nine hits and one walk while striking out three. Tolle threw 94 pitches, 71 for strikes, and generated just seven swings and misses.

Tolle entered the game leading qualified MLB rookies with a 2.28 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and with opponents hitting .192 against him. He was the first Red Sox pitcher to open a season allowing three runs or fewer in each of his eight starts since Chris Sale in 2018.

He escaped trouble in the first inning after an unusual sequence that saw a foul pop-up fall untouched when he and catcher Mickey Gasper got crossed up behind the plate. Earlier in the frame, Durbin had turned an unassisted double play to help limit the damage.

The Rays finally broke through in the fourth.

Ryan Vilade’s one-out double started the rally before Cedric Mullins, Ben Williamson and Nick Fortes delivered three consecutive two-out RBI hits to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.

Tampa Bay added another insurance run in the sixth when Williamson singled, Fortes was hit by a pitch and Richie Palacios delivered a two-out RBI single to make it 4-1.

Garrett Whitlock pitched in his first game since coming off the injured list, tossing a scoreless eighth inning and allowing one hit while recording one strikeout. Prior to landing on the injured list, Whitlock recorded a 3.20 ERA with nine holds in 19 2/3 innings. He spent 15 days on the IL with left knee inflammation.

The Sox went down without a fight in the top of the ninth. Willson Contreras filed out to open the frame off Rays closer Bryan Baker and then Masataka Yoshida and Gasper grounded out to first base.

Boston dropped to 1-32 when trailing after seven innings and 0-35 when down after eight innings. The Red Sox were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left three runners on base. Boston struck out three times in the game and failed to draw a walk in the loss. 

The slumping Red Sox will try to salvage the series finale Wednesday afternoon. Rookie right-hander Jake Bennett (1-1, 4.35 ERA) is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Worcester to start against Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen (5-2, 3.00 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.