Ryan Vilade went 3-for-4 and Nick Martinez turned in seven-plus strong innings to help the Tampa Bay Rays defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Martinez (6-2) held Boston to three runs on six hits, departing after the first three Red Sox hitters reached base in the eighth. He struck out two without issuing a walk. Bryan Baker retired the Red Sox in order in the ninth to earn his 18th save.
Tampa Bay’s Ben Williamson and Nick Fortes each contributed two hits and an RBI. Yandy Diaz singled and walked to extend his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
Boston’s Payton Tolle (3-3) pitched six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two of the Red Sox’s six hits and scored twice.
Tampa Bay, which has won the first two games of the three-game series, finished 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Boston took its third loss in a row.
The Red Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Kiner-Falefa doubled with one out and scored on Jarren Duran’s two-out single.
A three-run fourth put the Rays in front. Vilade doubled and scored on Cedric Mullins’ two-out single. Williamson doubled to drive in Mullins and give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead, and Williamson came home on Fortes’ double.
The Rays added a run in the sixth for a 4-1 edge. Williamson reached base on an infield single, took second when Fortes was hit by a pitch and scored on Richie Palacios’ single.
Boston made it a one-run game by scoring twice in the eighth. After singles by Caleb Durbin and Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer doubled home both runners to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3. Kevin Kelly replaced Martinez on the mound, and Mayer moved to third on Duran’s groundout — the first out of the inning — but he was still on third when the inning ended.
