Apr 12, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Matt Moore (55) throws a pitch during the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
BOSTON — The Tampa Bay Rays headed for New York on Thursday night coming off a win they hope can propel them to better things.
Coming from down 5-1 and then blowing a three-run lead, Tampa Bay escaped with a wild 12-8 win over the Boston Red Sox that raised their record to 7-8 — but also handed them back-to-back series wins
“We don’t normally do stuff like that — 12 runs I know is kind of rare for us but it just goes to show the capability that we have on our squad … I’m really proud of the guys right now and excited to take it into tomorrow,” said catcher Curt Casali, who hit his third homer in eight career at-bats against good friend and Red Sox starter David Price.
The normally quiet Rays bats scored six runs in the first two games of the three-game series at Fenway Park but then had 12 runs on 15 hits in the finale.
Now, they head to the Bronx and a series with the struggling Yankees, with left-hander Matt Moore facing CC Sabathia in the series opener on Friday night. It’s the first meeting of the season with the Yankees, who took a 5-8 record into Thursday night’s game with the Oakland Athletics.
