A match up of Tanner Houck, Boston’s impressive 27-year old righty, against Taj Bradley, the Rays 23-year old righty on the verge, we hope, of greatness, was likely to be a good (if low-scoring) game.
And for three innings that pitchers duel delivered. Houck allowed just one baserunner and it wasn’t even his fault; he had a 3-2 county on Jonathan Aranda when his infield was dinged for an “illegal defensive set up” e.g. violation of the no-shift rule, the penalty for which is a ball, which meant Aranda got a 3-ball walk. (I’m making this sound simple but it involved a very lengthy delay while umpires conferred with the folks in NY).