Slow Starting Red Sox Sweep Rays for First Series Win of the Season

Christian Vazquez hit an 11th inning sacrifice fly to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on April 21st. The win capped a three game sweep by the Red Sox over the A.L. East leading Rays, and was also the first series win of the 2019 season for the defending World Series champions. Boston improved to 9-13 on the season while the Rays dropped to 14-8.

Boston has gotten off to a horrible start this season. The schedule makers did not do them any favors by having the Red Sox open with 11 games on the road at Seattle, Oakland, and Arizona; they returned home with a 3-8 record. But a lot of the club’s players are off to abysmal starts as well. After the Tampa Bay sweep, the pitching staff still had a collective ERA of 5.62. Chris Sale (0-4, 8.50) and Rick Porcello (0-3, 8.47) led the race to the bottom. The offense was also in hibernation yet for the most part, with the club hitting just .232, tied for 12th in the A.L., and the Red Sox’ 93 runs scored was 13th.

There’s a long way to go in the season, and this is too good a club to be as bad as it has been. But after dominating from the beginning and winning 108 games in the regular season last year, it looks like the Red Sox will have a tougher go of it this season.