Tampa Bay Rays Outlast Boston Red Sox in Messy Extra-Inning Showdown

BOSTON — For nine innings, the Tampa Bay Rays played a clean game and the Boston Red Sox did not.

The tables turned in extras, though, opening the door for a messy and chaotic finish.

Ian Seymour, making his MLB debut, had already recorded two outs with the Rays leading 8-7 in the bottom of the 10th. He got Abraham Toro to ground one to first, seemingly ending the ballgame then and there.

Jonathan Aranda proceeded to make not one, but two errors, on the play, failing to field the ball cleanly before throwing it past Seymour at the bag. That allowed Ceddanne Rafaela to come around and score, forcing an 11th inning.

The Red Sox didn't do much with the momentum, however, as Zack Kelly issued a bases-loaded walk to Junior Caminero, who let his emotions loose after ball four. Jake Mangum yelled from the on-deck circle to make sure the go-ahead run didn't lap Caminero during the celebration, before adding an RBI infield single of his own.

"Look man, this is a really hard game," Mangum said. "Put pressure on the defense, make them make a quick decision. Those things matter, like, a lot."

Boston got the tying run on base to open the bottom of the frame, only for Seymour to escape the jam on a looking strikeout and a lineout to short. That locked up the 10-8 victory for Tampa Bay, as well as Seymour's first career win.

The 26-year-old southpaw, who grew up in Massachusetts, said all he was trying to do was get the ball over the plate.

"I don't think I could have pictured that in a million years," Seymour said. "I'm kinda at a loss for words."

Boston made it to extras in the first place thanks to Roman Anthony's RBI groundout and Kristian Campbell's RBI infield single in the ninth. That cut Pete Fairbanks' nine-game scoreless appearance streak short, on top of erasing the lead the Rays built off the back of the Red Sox's numerous errors and miscues.

Not even a baserunning blunder in the top of the fourth could stop the Rays from scoring a run, since the Red Sox's own chaotic showing on defense allowed a man to advance to third. Tampa Bay made it a 3-0 ballgame when Anthony – the No. 1 prospect in baseball, also making his MLB debut – overran a ground ball in right.

Boston came back to tie it, only for Brennan Bernardino to hand the lead right back with a pickoff error and wild pitch. Josh Lowe added an RBI double, while Jonathan Aranda advanced to second on his RBI single when Rafaela opted to ignore the cutoff man.

Shane Baz got the ball rolling for the Rays, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the second between his 1-2-3 innings in the first, third and fourth. And while he ran into trouble in the fifth, giving up a ground-rule double and a single to open the frame, only one run scored.

On the verge of a quality start, Baz's night took a turn for the worse. He walked Rafael Devers and plunked Abraham Toro to open the sixth, then got pulled in favor of Garrett Cleavinger.

Both inherited runners scored on a double by Romy Gonzalez. Baz's final line was three hits, three walks and three earned runs allowed on 76 pitches in 5.1 innings.

Baz's counterpart, Brayan Bello, put up similar numbers in his 6.1-inning start. He gave up seven hits and a walk, leading to three earned runs and one unearned run.

Those starts hardly defined the game, which seemingly went off the rails the moment the bullpens took over. Through it all, the Rays

"There were so many highlights, so many big at-bats," said manager Kevin Cash. "Offensively, as a group, the guys really did a good job knowing that one run is not gonna get it done late in ballgames."

The Rays set themselves up to potentially claim the series Tuesday. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.

Related Rays stories

• WILD DOUBLE PLAY: Junior Caminero' routine pop fly to the catcher somehow devolved into a chaotic double play, but it still helped the Tampa Bay Rays take a lead over the Boston Red Sox. CLICK HERE

• FENWAY DEBUTS: Jake Mangum is starting in left field for the Tampa Bay Rays in their series opener against the Boston Red Sox on Monday, so he prepared with a pregame trip into and on top of the Green Monster. CLICK HERE

• FRANCO FACING GUN CHARGES: Wander Franco, already on trial in the Dominican Republic for serious charges, has been hit with more legal issues. CLICK HERE

You can follow Sam Connon on Twitter @SamConnon.