Rays try to extend Boston's slide

Published February 05, 2015

(SportsNetwork.com) - After earning their second straight walk-off victory in the series opener on Friday night, the Tampa Bay Rays will attempt to keep that momentum rolling on Saturday when they take on the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field.

The teams played scoreless baseball until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Desmond Jennings worked a one-out walk, stole second and was plated by a double off the bat of pinch-hitter Cole Figueroa as the Rays captured the 1-0 win.

"I'd seen it on TV lot of times, and I was like, 'That'd be pretty cool to do,'" said Figueroa, who recorded just his second-career major league hit.

Chris Archer was dazzling for the hosts, tying a career high with 11 strikeouts over six innings of work while allowing just four hits.

"The way we're playing, the plays we were making, the timely hit that we got -- it all came together tonight," Archer said.

Juan Carlos Oviedo (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth and was rewarded the victory.

John Lackey had one of his best starts of the season, allowing five hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings for the Red Sox, who have dropped eight straight games. Andrew Miller (1-3) was saddled with the loss.

Evan Longoria was the only player in the game with multiple hits, finishing 3- for-4.

Jake Peavy, who has won just one of his nine starts in the early going, will attempt to get his season back on track for the Red Sox on Saturday.

Although Peavy ran into some tough luck early in the campaign, he held an impressive 2.87 ERA after his first six starts. He's struggled of late, however, by allowing 14 earned runs over his last three starts to raise his ERA to 4.33.

The veteran right-hander faced Tampa Bay back on May 1 and was the hard-luck loser after allowing just two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Toeing the rubber for Tampa Bay will be ace David Price, who's underwhelmed this season with a 4-4 record and a 4.28 ERA.

The 2012 American League Cy Young Award winner has lost three of his last four decisions, including on May 18 when he allowed 11 hits and five earned runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Angels.

Despite his recent struggles, Price still has an outstanding 77-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the year. He's gone a franchise-record 13 straight starts allowing one or zero walks.

Price is 10-6 lifetime against the Red Sox with a 2.93 ERA.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rays-try-to-extend-bostons-slide