Tampa Bay Rays Shut Down Boston Red Sox, 4-1, To Continue Winning Ways
The Tampa Bay Rays have been allergic to losing. And that continued after a 4-1 beating of their division rival, the Boston Red Sox. With the victory, Tampa (26-13) has won 14 of its last 16 games and has become a legitimate challenger to the New York Yankees for the American League East division crown.
Junior Caminero homered again to bring his tally to 11 on the 2026 season, and seven of the nine batters in the starting lineup had a hit in what was a collective effort on offense. Tampa Bay also went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position on the afternoon. But what contributed the most to Tampa’s AL-tying 26th win of the season and Tampa’s 14-2 stretch has been the pitching. Nick Martinez went into the sixth, only allowing one earned run.
Nick Martinez Tosses Another Gem For The Rays
As stated earlier, Martinez pitched well again for his team, improving his ERA to 1.70 this season (4th in the American League). The one run that he gave up came in the sixth inning on an RBI single against Red Sox Catcher Mickey Gasper. Gasper was the penultimate batter Martinez would face. He was then able to retire the next batter, Marcelo Mayer, on a groundout before being taken out of the game.
In his last four starts, all of which have come during the Rays’ recent winning stretch, Martinez, 35, has only given up three earned runs in 25.2 innings. Martinez’s WHIP in his previous three starts before today was 0.96, which was tied for fifth in the American League. He also had an ERA of 1.02 in his last three outings before today, also fifth in the AL. It has arguably been Martinez’s best start to a season in his career.
Rays Pitching Has Flummoxed Opponents
During the 14-2 run Tampa has had since April 22, its pitching has done the following: allowed one run or fewer in nine of 16 games, and two runs or fewer in 13 of 16 games. And in only one of those games that Tampa allowed two runs or fewer did it lose–a 2-0 loss to Boston earlier in the series. That shows that the offense, led by Caminero and Yandy Díaz, has done just enough to supplement the pitching.
Their pitching has been so good that the Rays now find themselves in the top five in baseball in WHIP (1.16 – tied for 2nd), opponents’ batting average (.219 – 3rd), and team ERA (3.44 – 5th). The squad has also allowed only 121 walks, good for third fewest in MLB. Earlier in the year, the Rays did not have an identity, which led to their slow start. However, their formula for winning has become quite clear since late April: score enough on offense and let the pitching do the rest.
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