Red Sox Hammered by Rays 8-2 [VIDEO]

The Boston Red Sox were hammered by the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, June 23rd, falling 8-2 in Florida.

Garrett Richards was dreadful, lasting just 1.2 innings allowing 5 runs on 3 hits. He walked 4 and gave up 2 homers, and didn't have control of his pitches at all.

His short pitching performance really taxed the bullpen. Brandon Workman, Yacksel Rios, and Josh Taylor combined for 4.1 innings of 1 hit relief, striking out 4. Matt Andriese pitched the 7th and 8th innings, allowing 2 hits, 3 runs and striking out 5, but allowing a 3 run home run to Brandon Lowe in the 7th inning to let the game get out of hand.

The Red Sox managed only 6 hits. Kike Hernandez and Rafael Devers each had a double.

For Tampa Bay, Austin Meadows had a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Mike Zunino had a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning and Lowe had his 3-run dinger in the 7th inning.

Wander Franco, called up on Tuesday by Tampa Bay was 0-3, but scored a run and walked twice.

Manager Alex Cora on the game

With the loss, the Red Sox are a half game ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East. The Yankees rallied to beat Kansas City 6-5.

The Red Sox play the Rays tonight, June 24th in the final game of the 3 game series. Nick Pivetta (6-3) will take the mound for the Red Sox. Thursday night's pregame starts at 6:10 with the first pitch at 7:10 on AM 1370 WDEA