Tampa Bay’s Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson drove in a pair apiece in a four-run first inning, Victor Mesa Jr. homered and the Rays won for the eighth time in their final regular-season homestand by beating the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
In finishing 8-1 on their last homestand before the postseason, the Rays (95-60) sent nine batters to the plate in the first and never looked back as they concluded their home schedule with a majors-best 55-26 mark.
Starter Griffin Jax (8-10) fired five scoreless frames with three hits allowed. He fanned five with two walks over 74 offerings.
Trevor Story homered, and Roman Anthony (double) and Caleb Durbin each went 2-for-4. However, Boston (84-72) managed only six hits in losing its second straight.
Starter Patrick Sandoval (1-7) rebounded from a terrible beginning to finish seven innings, allowing five runs on four hits. He struck out five, walked two and hit a batter in 94 pitches.
Tampa Bay put its first five batters on base against Sandoval, and DeLuca doubled in two runs before Simpson singled in two more as the Rays batted around in the first.
Jax was dialed in early after yielding a leadoff single to Anthony. The right-hander retired 10 straight batters, four by strikeouts, until Adley Rutschman singled with one out in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Mesa made it 5-0 by cranking Sandoval’s 95 mph four-seamer out to right-center a Statcast-estimated 403 feet. It was the right fielder’s 14th home run.
The Red Sox had a chance to get back in it by loading the bases in the fifth on a single by Durbin and two walks, but Anthony — who drove in five of the club’s six runs in the series — whiffed to end it on a sinking 2-2 changeup from Jax, the starter’s final pitch.
With a fire alarm going off behind center field causing a short delay, Cole Sulser tossed a perfect sixth as the bullpen began its stretch of four innings of one-run work.
Story hit his fifth homer with one out in the ninth to spoil the shutout.
