ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays took care of business again Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, scoring early and hanging on late in an 8-5 win against a Red Sox team reeling with COVID-19 cases.
With 30 games to go, the defending American League champions are right where they want to be.
Riding a strong six-inning start by left-hander Ryan Yarbrough and capitalizing on Boston’s mistakes, Tampa Bay piled up its ninth consecutive victory to punctuate a 21-win month of August. The Rays, who went 22-6 in May, are the first team since the 2002 “Moneyball” A’s to have two calendar months with at least 21 wins in the same season.
The Rays improved to 84-48 overall, a franchise-record 36 games over .500, as they won for the 24th time in their last 30 games. With the second-place Yankees still in action when Andrew Kittredge recorded the final out of Tuesday’s game, the Rays boosted their lead in the AL East to a franchise-record 7 1/2 games. They’ll roll into September having led the division for 32 straight days while owning the AL’s best record for 26 days in a row.