Rays Slide Continues – Lose To Last Place Red Sox

Jacoby Ellsbury notches three RBI for Red Sox

The Tampa Bay Rays returned home from a 1-6 road trip with American League East Division leaders, the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees. Their September slide continued tonight with a 5-2 loss to the last-place Boston Red Sox.

Jacoby Ellsbury had three RBI and homered and Boston starter Aaron Cook stopped a personal five-game losing streak giving the Red Sox six solid innings in which he allowed one earned run on five hits.

Rays starter Alex Cobb took a no-hitter into the sixth  inning, when Jose Iglesias was hit by a pitch .  Elsbury then added Boston’s first hit of the evening with a two run home run to put the Red Sox up 2-1. José Molina and Cobb were seen having a heated exchange after the inning in the Rays dugout.

“We’re both really into that game, and we needed to win that game,” Cobb said. “I honestly don’t really know what the argument was about, still. We’ll work things out. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, or whatever, and leave it behind us.”

The Rays have now scored just 21 runs in their last seven games. And while the Rays lead the American League with a 3.27 ERA, their inability to score runs has dimned their playoff hopes. Evan Longoria sat out the game with what was described by Rays manager Joe Maddon as heavy legs. Longoria missed 85 games earlier this season with a partially torn left hamstring.

The two teams resume their four-game series tomorrow with Felix Doubront pitching for the Red Sox and Jeremy Hellickson for the Rays.