Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox Match Player Stats On Sep 06, 2021

Nelson Cruz's tiebreaking, 10th-inning single helped Tampa Bay overcome a six-run deficit Monday, sending the visiting Rays past the Boston Red Sox 11-10 in a wild Labor Day matinee.

Cruz capped a three-RBI day by lining a single to right off Garrett Whitlock (7-3) to score Randy Arozarena, and pinch hitter Brandon Lowe looped a single to plate Cruz with the crucial markers.

Collin McHugh (6-1) pitched out of trouble in the ninth and got pinch hitter Kevin Plawecki to ground out with the bases full for the final out for the AL East-leading Rays (87-51).

Rookie Wander Franco notched his first career four-hit game -- 4-for-6 with three runs -- while Cruz and Yandy Diaz each produced three of the visitors' 19 hits.

Franco's first-inning triple extended his on-base streak to 36 games, tying him with Mickey Mantle (1951-52) for the second-longest in major league history by a player under 21. Frank Robinson (1956) holds the mark of 43.

Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough surrendered seven runs and eight hits in two innings.

Taylor Motter doubled, tripled and scored twice, and Hunter Renfroe notched three hits and two RBIs for Boston (79-61).

Starter Chris Sale toiled over 3 2/3 innings, yielding 10 hits and five runs -- one earned -- while fanning six and walking one.

In the first inning, Franco socked a one-out triple off the center field wall, and Cruz singled him in.

J.D. Martinez's RBI single to center tied it in the 47-minute first frame, which saw plate umpire Manny Gonzalez leave after taking a foul ball off his mask.

Boston put up six runs in the second. Motter, Renfroe, Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo each drove in a runner and Bobby Dalbec doubled for two more as the home side pounded Yarbrough for a 7-1 lead.

Verdugo got under Cruz's drive but lost it in the sun with the bases full and two outs in the fourth. The ball bounced off Verdugo's glove in center, allowing three to score. Second baseman Motter's relay throw sailed high above third to score Cruz for a 7-5 margin.

Jordan Luplow's RBI single in the sixth trimmed the deficit to 7-6, but Boston got the tally back on Renfroe's single.

Arozarena drove in another unearned run in the seventh to make it 8-7. Boston's Jonathan Arauz hit his third home run, a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, to increase the gap to two.

Cruz rocked his 28th homer leading off the eighth, and Austin Meadows forced extra innings with an inside-the-park homer off the wall in center leading off the ninth.

--Field Level Media