The big blow came in the top of the seventh inning when Dustin Pedroia blasted a grand slam to turn a Sox 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
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His toughest challenge in his last five starts came against the Rays, who got him for six hits and three runs in seven innings in a game the Red Sox still pulled out on August 29.
Jason Grilli (7-5) struck out Billy Butler in the eighth to strand a runner at third, and Roberto Osuna completed a three-hitter for his 35th save. In his final inning of work, he threw 16 straight pitches that were classified as changeups (Pomeranz and Farrell both said these were actually two-seam fastballs) or curveballs before finishing his outing with two four-seam heaters. Since the start of last season, he has 15 losses, and has 26 total runs of support in those games. The Rays dropped 24 games under.500 for the first since the end of the 2007 season. Pedroia made a throw from just in front of the outfield grass at second base on Mikie Mahtook’s grounder to get Corey Dickerson at the plate.
For as good as Porcello was outside of that period, though, the three-run inning put the Sox behind 3-1, with a couple hits from Mookie Betts and Brock Holt in the second accounting for all of their offense to that point. The magic number to clinch the AL East is now 4. It was Frosty’s 20th dinger of the season, giving the Rays 69 players with 20 homers. Seattle is 2ﾽ games back for the second AL wild card. Leon, for his part, was unable to right the ship, tapping to third where Longoria was able to fire home to keep the run out.
He has gone five or more innings in 14 of his 18 starts and in four of his last five.
Washington claimed the National League East title and a play-off berth place thanks to a 6-1 success against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Mets’ 10-8 defeat against the Philadelphia Phillies.
New York’s NL wild-card lead was cut to a half-game over St. Louis and San Francisco, which played at San Diego late Saturday. Randal Grichuk added three RBIs and Jhonny Peralta had three hits. Prior to his single, his last six base hits all went for extra bases.
First baseman Hanley Ramirez treated Dustin Pedroia like his little brother after the second baseman’s seventh-inning grands slam.
Curt Casali had a pair of hits and finished the game 2-for-4. Chicago last won 99 games in 1935, when it reached 100. He also hit a solo home run in the sixth, his 32nd.
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David Ortiz crushed a two-run homer in the first inning, and that was enough to lead the Boston Red Sox to their ninth straight win, edging the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Friday night at Tropicana Field.
