Wednesday, 4 a.m.
The Tampa Bay Rays finally built a lead to big to blow Tuesday night.
The Rays, who have spent September with fast starts and sudden stops, almost gave up a seven-run lead to the Boston Red Sox. This time, however, they managed to win it in the end, beating Boston 9-7 for their 96th win of the season.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo). Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
Reliever Pete Fairbanks, who imploded in his last outing against Toronto (three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch) bounced back by striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Rays had 10 hits and scored seven runs through three innings. As has often been their habit, however, the Rays then stepped on the brakes. They had only three hits the rest of the way.
Part of that is understandable. The Rays played without their starting first baseman, second baseman, left fielder and center fielder.
Manuel Margo had four hits for the Rays. Jonathan Aranda had three hits and Curtis Mead and Josh Lowe each had two. Rene Pinto had a two-run home run.
The Red Sox came back with three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one each in the seventh and eighth.
Tampa Bay added two insurance runs in the eighth on a groundout by Harold Ramirez and single by Aranda.
Starter Zach Eflin won his 16th game, which leads the American League.
The Rays and Red Sox finish their series against each other today at Fenway Park at 6:10 p.m. Tyler Glasnow will start for Tampa Bay against Brayan Bello.