A good collection of folks showed up for our watch party at Green Bench last night, co-sponsored by Baseball Forever and SubAp. (Photo Credit: Anthony Ateek/X-Rays Spex)
Chris Archer, as he has been wont to do this season, put the Tampa Bay Rays in an early, unrecoverable hole in the first inning of Friday’s contest against Boston. And while the Rays were able to come from behind twice, subsequently tying the game, the Red Sox pulled in front in the late innings, ultimately eking out a 6-5 win. The Rays now have dropped four consecutive games, and 20-out-of-23 for the first time in franchise history.


Source: FanGraphs

It took Archer nearly 30 pitches to get through the opening frame, as the righty walked a pair and relinquished runs on a single by Xander Bogaerts, and a Jackie Bradley Jr. sac-fly to right.

Tampa Bay struck back in the second inning, scoring a run on Nick Franklin’s single, and another in the third on Logan Forsythe’s massive homer over the Green Monster.

Be that as it may, Boston stole back the lead back in the fourth against Archer, after David Ortiz homered to right — then preened around the bases — and Aaron Hill singled home a two-out run.

Nevertheless the Rays answered once again in the top half of the fifth on Brad Miller’s sac-fly to left with runners on the corners, and Longoria’s game tying two-out RBI single off the Green Monster.

However, the Red Sox had another answer for Archer and the Rays. Hanley Ramirez singled with one out, swiped second, then scored on Bryce Brentz’s two-out single to left-center. (Brentz entered the game in the third inning for an injured Brock Holt).

Boston added a crucial insurance run in the eighth inning when Hill singled home a two-out run against Xavier Cedeno. The run proved critical because Longoria homered to left off Koji Uehara in the ninth, making it a one-run game. But Logan Morrison flew out at the warning track in center field, unceremoniously ending the back-and-forth contest.

The New What Next

The Rays will try to bounce back from yet another loss on Saturday afternoon with Matt Moore on the bump. He’ll be opposed by Rick Porcello. Moore has won back-to-back starts, and is 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA over his past five appearances. The southpaw has worked at least six innings in his past six starts, but is 0-3 with a 6.43 ERA in six road starts, and 4-4 with a 4.67 ERA in nine games against Boston. Porcello is 7-0 with a 3.60 ERA in eight starts at Fenway. The former Tiger beat the Angels in his most recent start, although he allowed four runs on 12 hits. Porcello is 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA against Rays this season, and 7-4 with a 2.98 ERA overall, with seven straight quality starts. You can read more about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 7/9/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza CF
Dickerson DH
Franklin LF
Arcia RF
Casali C
Moore LHP

Noteworthiness

— A big thank you goes out to those of you who attended our watch party last night…this, of course, is in spite of the outcome. We met a ton of people, raffled off a ton of swag, and signed up a ton of people to receive Baseball Forever updates (among other things). If you haven’t purchased your tickets for the Baseball Forever Night at the Ballpark, you still can do so now. We’ll do this again in a month at Urban Comfort.

— C’mon Rays, Make Baseball Fun Again!

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