Red Sox 7, Rays 1
Rubby De La Rosa struck out eight in seven scoreless innings and Brock Holt hit his first career home run as Boston pounded visiting Tampa Bay to extend its winning streak to six games.
Jackie Bradley Jr. added a solo homer and Jonathan Herrera went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Red Sox, who had lost 10 straight before their current surge. De La Rosa (1-0), who was making his first start for Boston in place of Clay Buchholz (knee), scattered four hits without walking a batter.
Jake Odorizzi (2-5) was knocked around for five runs on six hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings as the Rays dropped their fifth game in a row. Kevin Kiermaier delivered an inside-the-park homer in the eighth for Tampa Bay’s lone run.
The Red Sox got on the board in the third, when Herrera singled and Holt sent a 3-2 fastball into Boston's bullpen in right-center field. They added a run in the third on Mike Carp’s sacrifice fly and chased Odorizzi with two in the fourth as Herrera plated Grady Sizemore with a safety squeeze and came around to score on A.J. Pierzynski’s single to center.
Bradley made it 7-0 in the fifth, when he came up with Sizemore on base and belted a 3-1 sinker from Cesar Ramos out to right-center for his first shot of the season. Bradley made a strong effort on Kiermaier’s drive to left-center in the eighth, leaping at the wall and just missing the ball as it glanced off the wall, hit the center fielder in the face and trickled away to allow the Rays' right fielder to race around the bases.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Rays C Ali Solis, who was making his first major-league start, left the game in the top of the third inning with a nasal contusion after a pitch deflected off Pierzynski, ricocheted off the dirt and hit him in the nose. … The Red Sox optioned OF-1B Daniel Nava to Triple-A Pawtucket to open a roster spot for De La Rosa. … Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia (right hand contusion) was out of the lineup and had an MRI on Saturday after X-rays came back negative the previous night.