Rays 5, Red Sox 1
BOSTON -- The Tampa Bay Rays, getting a strong start from right-hander Jake Odorizzi and production from a revamped lineup, downed the sagging Boston Red Sox 5-1 in the opener of a three-game series on Monday night.
Odorizzi, picking up his first win in his last four starts, ran his record to 3-2 with seven strong innings. He allowed a run on seven hits (no walks, six strikeouts) and tied a club record with his sixth straight game without surrendering a home run.
It was also Odorizzi's 12th straight start against the AL East.
Recently recalled DH Joey Butler hit a two-run homer, his first major-league home run, and the Rays had 11 hits after rookie manager Kevin Cash shook up the batting order. They came into the game with 10 runs in their previous six games.
The win came in the seventh game of a nine-game Tampa Bay "road trip," with their three games over the weekend played at home with the Rays (14-12) being the visitors because of the trouble in Baltimore.
The Red Sox dropped their fourth straight to fall to 12-14 and drop into last place in the AL East.
The Sox, who lost catcher Ryan Hanigan last Friday to a broken knuckle that required surgery, lost left fielder Hanley Ramirez to a sprained left shoulder suffered in the first inning Monday.
Boston starter Clay Buchholz allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning-plus but went on to throw a season-high 107 pitches. The fifth run against him, in the seventh, became the first inherited runner this season to score against right-hander Junichi Tazawa.
Buchholz, hearing boos after allowing the four runs, settled down, but still hasn't won since Opening Day and fell to 1-4. His ERA rose from 5.76 to 6.03.
Right fielder Brock Holt had a triple and double and scored the Boston run.
Right-handers Ernesto Frieri and Erasmo Ramirez worked an inning apiece to finish it off for Tampa Bay.
Hanley Ramirez, learning to play a new position and having his problems, was injured when he ran down a drive by Tampa Bay's James Loney. Ramirez had the ball in his glove but it popped out when he ran, glove-first, into the padded barrier.
He appeared dazed and didn't react to the loose ball right away. After throwing it back in, with Loney at second, Ramirez bent over with his hands on his knees. Red Sox personnel made their way out to him, and Ramirez, who has a long history of injuries, walked off holding his left arm tight against his body.
The Rays quickly cashed in on Cash's new lineup when, with two outs in the first inning, Loney hit a ball down the left-field line that went in and out of Ramirez's glove for a double. Third baseman Evan Longoria doubled Loney home, and left fielder David DeJesus drove one through second baseman Dustin Pedroia for an RBI single.
The boos rang down on Buchholz in the second when Butler followed a leadoff single by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera with his homer.
Buchholz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third but got some help when he hit Longoria with a pitch to lead off the inning. First base umpire Brian Gorman ruled Longoria swung at the pitch that hit him, so it was a strikeout instead of Longoria being on first.
The Red Sox were hitting Odorizzi hard, and back-to-back two-out triples by Holt and shortstop Xander Bogaerts made it 4-1 in the bottom of the third.
Tampa Bay lost a challenge on Steven Souza Jr.'s caught stealing in the fourth inning -- dropping Cash to 0-for-11 on challenges as a big league manager.
NOTES: The Rays came in having scored only 10 runs in the last six games (2-4) and manager Kevin Cash shook up his lineup hoping for more offense. He moved struggling SS Asdrubal Cabrera and his .194 batting average down from third to seventh in a lineup that alternated lefty and righty batters. ... WEEI.com reported Red Sox DH David Ortiz had two appeal hearings on Monday, one for his recent contact with an umpire that led to a one-game suspension and the other for his 2103 phone smashing in the dugout in Baltimore. That one cost him $5,000. ... Tampa RHP Alex Cobb suffered a setback as he tries to make his way back from a right forearm strain and was shut down for at least a few days. ... The Red Sox officially added INF Luis Jimenez, claimed off waivers Sunday, and sent RHP Dalier Hinojosa back to Triple-A Pawtucket after he made his major-league debut Sunday night. ... "Star Wars" characters were on the field before the game.