Richie Palacios gave Tropicana Field the finish Tampa Bay had been chasing all afternoon, dropping a two-out flare into shallow right in the ninth to send Junior Caminero home and lift the Rays past the Red Sox, 2-1, on Saturday.
Palacios breaks through in the ninth
Tampa Bay came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth carrying an ugly recent history with runners in scoring position against Boston. The Rays had gone 33 straight at-bats without a hit in those spots against the Red Sox, but Palacios ended that drought when it mattered most.
- Garrett Whitlock faced Palacios with two outs and runners stationed at second and third.
- Palacios floated a soft single into right field.
- Caminero raced home from third with the winning run.
- It was Palacios’ second career walk-off plate appearance and the Rays’ third walk-off victory of the homestand.
The crowd of 27,402 watched Tampa Bay collect its seventh win in eight games. The victory pushed the Rays 4 1/2 games ahead in the AL East race, with the Yankees’ Saturday night game in Arizona still pending, and brought the club closer to its first division crown since 2021.
Peralta keeps giving Tampa Bay strong innings
Freddy Peralta gave the Rays another sharp outing, holding Boston to one run over 5 2/3 innings while striking out six. Since joining Tampa Bay’s rotation, the veteran right-hander has looked increasingly like a top-end starter again, posting a 0.94 ERA across five starts since Aug. 26.
There was extra life in Peralta’s repertoire Saturday. His four-seam fastball averaged 96.4 mph, 2.2 mph above his season mark, and climbed as high as 98.7 mph. That was his third-fastest pitch of the season.
Boston’s only breakthrough against him arrived in the third. Caleb Durbin opened the inning with a double to left and eventually scored when Roman Anthony drilled a two-out double to center.
Aranda answers, then the Rays wait for their opening
Jonathan Aranda made sure Boston’s lead did not last. He led off the fourth by driving his 22nd home run of the season to left field, pulling Tampa Bay even at 1-1.
That was the only damage the Rays managed against Boston starter Brayan Bello, and another chance slipped away in the seventh. Tampa Bay had gone 0-for-28 with runners in scoring position over its previous two meetings with the Red Sox and did not get a scoring-position at-bat until that inning.
- Liam Hicks opened the seventh with a single.
- Chandler Simpson followed with another base hit.
- Pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca and Simpson moved up on Victor Mesa Jr.’s groundout.
- Palacios bounced to shortstop Trevor Story, who threw out DeLuca at home.
- Cedric Mullins struck out, leaving two runners aboard.
That missed chance made the ninth feel even larger. When Palacios stepped in again with the game hanging in the balance, the Rays finally found the small hit that had been missing—and it was enough to carry them another step toward the division finish line.
