Friday, 4 a.m.
Well, Alex Cora wanted Erasmo Ramirez on the mound.
Congrats, one would guess.
Cora, the Boston manager, won his argument in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night. After the Rays exceeded their number of mound visits, Cora successfully argued that the Rays had to remove closer Jason Adam from the mound.
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In hindsight, that might have been kind of Cora. Adam had given up a walk and a single, bringing the winning run to the plate.
After Adam was pulled, it took Ramirez five pitches to get Romy Gonzalez to hit a grounder back to him for the final out. It was his first save of the year.
Rays’ manager Kevin Cash took the blame for exceeding the mound visits. He said the total of visits slipped by him.
The 7-5 victory vaulted the Rays into third place in the AL East. Granted, third place isn’t much to celebrate … unless you’re coming from fourth. The Rays took three of four from the Sox.
For the Rays, the big blow came in the top of the ninth, when Isaac Paredes singled off the Green Monster to drive in a run. Richie Palacios followed with a sacrifice fly.
Josh Lowe hit a two-run homer for the Rays. Both Jonathan Aranda and Paredes had two hits.
The Rays built a 5-1 lead, but Boston came back to tie the game. However, the Sox were just two-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They struck out 11 times.
Five Rays’ relievers gave up just two hits and one run.
The Rays now travel to Toronto to start a series tonight at 7:07 p.m.