Prior to Boston’s flight down to Tampa to face the Rays for a four-game series at the Trop, the Rays were scoring runs at a historic pace in their first nine games. The Rays had a +57 run differential and were undefeated, a scoring feat that a team hadn’t accomplished since roughly the Teddy Roosevelt administration. And that’s a long, long time ago.
So, when the Red Sox lasted eight innings before Chris Martin surrendered a run last night and lost by a mere 1-0, there were some thoughts that the Red Sox could keep up defensively with this behemoth at the plate.