ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays ran their season-opening win streak to 11 games, using another homer for Brandon Lowe and a strong performance by Shane McClanahan to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Tuesday night.
Yandy Díaz and Lowe hit back-to-back solo shots with two out in the fifth inning. Lowe extended his homer streak to four straight games.
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Isaac Paredes and Josh Lowe also connected for the Rays, and McClanahan (3-0) struck out nine while pitching five-plus innings of one-run ball.
The four homers brought Tampa Bay's total to 29, matching the major league record through 11 games set by the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals. It was the Rays' third four-homer game of the young season.
Tampa Bay's win streak is one game short of the franchise record set in 2004.
McClanahan surrendered two hits, but he walked four. The left-hander has 21 strikeouts in 17 innings so far this season.
Rafael Devers opened the Boston sixth with a leadoff walk. He advanced to third on Justin Turner’s single before McClanahan was replaced by Garrett Cleavinger.
Devers then scored when Masataka Yoshida bounced into a double play. It was the first run allowed by the Rays since the ninth on Friday, a franchise-record streak of 32 scoreless innings.
Paredes’ third homer of the season made it 3-0 in the fourth. Josh Lowe led off the seventh with a drive to right-center against Kaleb Ort for his second homer.
Garrett Whitlock (0-1) permitted five runs and eight hits in five innings in his season debut for Boston. The right-hander had hip surgery in September.
Reese McGuire hit an RBI single in the ninth for Boston.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: RHP Zach Eflin was placed on the 15-day injured list with lower back tightness. ... Díaz, who had three hits and scored three runs, left in the eighth inning with an apparent injury. ... INF Taylor Walls, who has missed two games with left elbow tendinitis, expects to return Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Taj Bradley, called up from Triple-A Durham to replace Eflin on the roster, will make his major league debut Wednesday night against Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale (1-0, 11.25 ERA).
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