Boston Red Sox Tampa Bay Rays Score: As Painful As A Loss Can Be

Not only did the Red Sox drop a game, series and division leadership on Thursday, they did so in the most painful of ways. They got a brilliant pitching effort from Nick Pivetta who didn’t allow a hit by 6 2⁄3 before being pulled out of the game on 100 pitches. But the offense could hardly do better. The no-hitter was broken up in eighth place, but in the bottom of the ninth the game was still goalless. In the inning there was a weak defense from Christian Vázquez, including a curveball in the dirt (which took a sweeping blow) that made it possible to beat the winning run and finish the game.

Thursday was a big start for Nick Pivetta, who not only tried to get his team to a big streak against a top division rival, and not just to get back on track personally, but also because the Red Sox skipped a brutal start from Garrett Richards and were looking for some length tonight. They got exactly what they needed from Pivetta and more.

It was immediately clear that Pivetta would be in a Zone tonight. After some slight concern that he might be affected by the sticky stuff raid, the right-wing man at that Tampa game had everything worked, and it did it right away. He hit the side in the lower half of the first and got two with almost perfectly placed fastballs, and then the last on a curveball below the zone. He had also gotten away with perfect second and third innings, giving up all nine batter the first time on the line-up.

After that he wasn’t quite as perfect, but damn close. The fourth saw the Rays their first baserunner of the evening when Brandon Lowe led the inning with a walk. Pivetta didn’t let it snow, however, and scored a strikeout against Wander Franco before getting Rando Arozarena to fly into right field. The ball was very high in the air and Lowe moved up to second place before returning. I’m not sure if he lost the ball around the roof or if it just went that far on purpose, but either way it got off the bag in the wrong direction and didn’t retouch it. As a result, he was called out and the inning was over.

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Pivetta didn’t have that kind of break in the fifth, but he only spent a step and nothing else to keep his no-hitter intact through five. It was close this inning with Hunter Renfroe behind him. Ji-Man Choi tore a line drive into the deep right field and Renfroe was able to track him down with a fine running grab.

The problem with this game is that Michael Wacha, the Rays starter, was equally impressive early on. The right-handed man had things I honestly had never seen him do, at least not recently, with his fastball hitting the mid-90s and its change that was just devastating all night. The Red Sox had a little more success than the Rays at the plate, hitting a walk in each of the first two innings, but they stayed through four without a hit.

In the fifth, they broke up the no-hitter in the least impressive way. Christian Vázquez got one of those nasty transfers and he had an ugly swing that suited the field. Somehow, however, his little cricket-like cut (as Jerry Remy described it at the NESN booth) got in touch and he dropped a bloop single into the left field. The no-hitter was disbanded, and Vázquez made it even better by surprising the defense with a stolen base attempt. Francisco Mejía was thrown off his knees behind the plate and the ball hit the outside field, putting Vázquez in third place. He would stay there, however, and the game was goalless.

Tampa surprisingly left Wacha for the sixth time with the third line-up, but the Red Sox recorded two quick outs to start the inning. However, as they did with two outs this year, they bounced back a bit from then and got a pair with a single and a walk ahead of Rafael Devers. It looked like he was going to smuggle you through the right side, but Lowe made a nice play in the hole, almost certain to save a run, and we were still goalless.

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Meanwhile, Pivetta only rolled up to sixth place. He was again able to hit a batter without a hit, but knock down the other three to bring the no-hitter into the seventh.

Renfroe moved into the top half of that seventh inning and got the Red Sox off to a good start with a double out into midfield. It looked like they were finally going to get on the scoreboard when Vázquez shot a single shot into midfield. The Rays still have Kevin Kiermaier out there, and Renfroe didn’t have the best contact jump. Carlos Febles was still sending him home, and Renfroe hesitated again a little before leaving anyway, getting knocked down on the plate fairly easily. In the next stroke, Vázquez was caught with a back pick far from second base, ended the inning and lost by far the best chance they had in the game so far.

Pivetta still had the no-hitter going into seventh place where he was let down by his defense. After a quick first out, Austin Meadows met a routine grounder at first base. Michael Chavis, who had just moved there from the second inning, couldn’t handle it and allowed the runner to reach safely. After Meadows was on the court and a shortstop ground ball only resulted in an out at first base, Pivetta was lifted, still without hits on the board. He was at exactly 100 pitches and would never get through the whole game at that rate, but it’s still a surprise to see a pitcher drawn with a no-no.

Josh Taylor tried to keep the team-wide no, and after deliberately leaving Manuel Margot, he faced Joey Wendle. The Red Sox southpaws won the fight with a fly to the left, stranded two, kept the game tied and kept a goose egg in the hit column for Tampa Bay.

After the Red Sox had a stroll and nothing else in the top of eighth place, it was Darwinzon Hernandez trying to get hold of the no-hitter and tie-ball game. He got one out, but then the no-hitter would be broken up with a solid double from Kiermaier. That not only broke the no-hitter, but also put the starting gun in the goal position for the top of the line-up.

Hernandez’s night would end with a walk to Lowe, and Adam Ottavino was two on and one out. On the first throw he threw he was given a floor to get runners into corners and Franco quickly stole second place to get a pair in the goal position. It didn’t matter as Ottavino got Arozarena to emerge from behind the plate to keep the game in ninth place.

In ninth place, the Red Sox were able to break a few big breaks with two outs in the inning. Devers took a step with an out and then started on a field that beat Vázquez into midfield. Devers was able to go back, but Kiermaier’s throw was wrong and Devers made it into second place as a starting gun. To make matters even better for Boston, Devers neglected to retouch the second – a mistake the Rays made earlier in this game! – but Tampa didn’t notice. Despite the two massive breaks, Kiké Hernández couldn’t take advantage of them and went too short to finish the inning.

So now it was up to Matt Barnes to stand up for the end of ninth place to try and force him to do extras. It got a bit tricky when Margot stabbed a two-out base hit through the left side and then hit the bat break for second on the next. Vázquez’s throw failed to be picked by Bogaerts and came into midfield, throwing Margot 90 feet away from winning this game. He did just that when Barnes tossed a curveball in the mud, and while he got a sweeping blow for the second blow, Vázquez couldn’t keep it in front of him. Margot got in without much trouble and that was the game.

The 2-1 loss dropped the streak for Boston, dropping their record to 44-31, and it brought Tampa back to the top of the division with a half-time lead.

The Red Sox are now starting another major divisional matchup, playing three games against the Yankees this weekend. You will have Martín Pérez on the hill for the Friday night opener while Domingo German is heading to New York. The first pitch is set to 7:10 p.m. ET.

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Courtesy of FanGraphs

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