ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays lost a bid for a no-hitter in the 10th inning Saturday but won the game over the Red Sox, 3-2, on a two-run, walk-off homer by Kevin Kiermaier with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
Six Tampa Bay pitchers combined to no-hit Boston for nine innings but lost their bid for history in the 10th.
Bobby Dalbec led off the inning by tripling off Matt Wisler, the seventh Rays pitcher, to score Jackie Bradley Jr., who started the inning as the runner on second. Right fielder Brett Phillips came up just short on a running and sliding try to make the catch. Christian Vazquez then followed with a sacrifice fly.
But the Rays, held to two hits through the first nine innings, rallied. Randy Arozarena, who started the inning on second base, was balked to third with two outs by Hansel Robles, then scored when second baseman Trevor Story made an errant throw to first after fielding Taylor Walls’ grounder.
Walls stole second, and then Kiermaier, who turned 32 on Friday, delivered the winning blow.
The Rays had a bullpen day planned, and it worked out well before a boisterous Tropicana Field crowd of 19,137, with J.P. Feyereisen, Javy Guerra, Jeffrey Springs, Jason Adam, Ryan Thompson and Andrew Kittredge teaming for the first 27 outs.
The Sox actually had a hit for a few moments in the fourth inning when Alex Verdugo was called safe at first after supposedly beating a Wander Franco throw, but the call was challenged by the Rays and overturned. Franco was lined up on the shortstop side of second and went quickly to his left to make the play and bounced throw.
Franco also took away the Sox’s closest bid for a hit earlier. In the third, he knocked down a hot shot by Vazquez with his glove, then spun around the ball, picked it up and fired to first for the out.
The Rays have thrown only one official no-hitter in their first 24 seasons, by Matt Garza on July 26, 2010 against Detroit.
Five Rays pitchers combined to not allow a hit over the full seven innings of the second game of a July 7 doubleheader against Cleveland last year. But it was not recognized as a no-hitter due to the length of the game, even though it was scheduled for seven innings. The pitchers that day were Collin McHugh, Josh Fleming, Diego Castillo, Wisler and Pete Fairbanks.
Feyereisen, making his second professional start in seven days after none in eight-plus years in the minors and majors, worked the first two innings — and quite well, retiring six straight.
The Rays went next to newcomer Guerra, who got two outs, then walked one and had Story reach on an error.
Lefty Springs got the Rays out of the third, then navigated the fourth — after allowing two, two-out walks — and got the first two outs of the fifth.
Adam finished the fifth and took care of the sixth, allowing a one-out walk. Thompson worked a 1-2-3 seventh.
Kittredge handled the eighth, taking a Rafael Devers drive off his back but making the play at first, and then set the Red Sox down in order in the ninth.
The Rays’ hitters didn’t do much better against Boston’s pitching, managing just two hits, a Brandon Lowe double in the fourth and a Phillips single in the eighth.
