Tuesday, 4 a.m.
Is it over?
Finally?
The Tampa Bay Rays finally found a lead they could hold onto Monday night, beating the Boston Red Sox 10-8 in 11 innings. Good thing. They must have been exhausted from having leads slip through their fingers.
The Rays kept building leads, and then they kept giving them back.
They survived a blown save by Pete Fairbanks, only his second of the year. They endured a play when Jonathan Aranda made two errors. They blew two three-run leads. And they won when rookie Ian Seymour pitched the final two innings of the game.
In the end, they resembled a bloodied and battered boxer who won because he threw the last pitch.
The Rays scored their winning runs in the 11th when Junior Caminero worked a walk on a full count and Jake Mangum beat out an infield hit.
It was Mangum’s fourth hit of the night.
In all, the Rays had 12 hits and walked eight times. Both Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda had two hits.
Still, it wasn’t all smooth for the Rays. Starter Shane Baz gave up three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. Eric Orze gave up two and Fairbanks gave up two. Fairbanks was trying to finish his first four-out save in three years.
The keeper story for the Rays, however, was Seymour, a 26-year-old rookie who grew up in the shadows of Fenway Park. Seymour ignored a pair of errors by Aranda that allowed the tying run in the 10th.
The Rays are now 11-2 in their last 13 games against Boston. They’re 15-4 in their last 19 games.
The Rays and Sox play again tonight at 7:10 p.m. at Fenway. Ryan Pepiot will start for the Rays against Lucas Giolito.