September 20 – Jack Littell allows only one hit in seven innings to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a victory in a three-game series with Boston, and in St. Petersburg, Florida (St. Petersburg), he beats the Red Sox (Red Sox) 2–0 with a combined one-hit game.
Little (8-9) bowled 75 balls and conceded seven runs in his 28th unbeaten innings.
The right-hander’s contact with the batter was very soft. He struck out 21 of 22 batters and allowed just one run, the Red Sox’ only baserunner of the night, Nick Sogard, in the third inning.
Little extended his scoreless streak to 20 innings as the Rays (75-78) tied their season series with Boston 5-5.
Edwin Uceta and Garrett Clevinger (sixth save) struck out all three batters they faced in the eighth and ninth, respectively, while Rays pitchers faced only 28 batters.
Brandon Lowe had an RBI. , José Caballero’s 44th stolen base hit in the American League.
The Red Sox (76–77) had a disappointing offensive performance, allowing only 10 hits and five runs in the series and falling to 2–5.
Rafael Devers went 0–11 against the Rays with eight strikeouts.
In his 29th start, Bryan Bello (14-8) couldn’t match Little’s effort but was still strong. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, recording seven strikeouts and two walk-offs in 101 pitches.
Bello and Little pitched quick first two innings, and the Red Sox won 2-1 on Jalen Duran’s eighth-inning single on Wednesday night.
However, Jose Sealy’s speed came in handy, and the Rays took a 1–0 lead in the third inning after the center fielder’s single.
With one out, Dylan Carlson hit a single to center and advanced to third. Lowe’s shallow sacrifice fly allowed Siri to cross home plate.
Boston left fielder Tyler O’Neill started a potentially good inning for the Rays in the bottom of the sixth inning when he carried Jonathan Aranda’s first-base single over the left field wall to second base, setting up Sogard Gunn while Aranda tried to turn around.
The Rays added an unearned insurance run in the seventh inning when Tyler Walls hit a single, stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Danny Jansen. Carlson gave him an RBI grounder.
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