Major League Baseball
Boston 4, Tampa Bay 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Adam Hamari, 1B - Dan Bellino, 2B - Tom Hallion, 3B - Phil Cuzzi
Attendance: 10642
Mookie Betts hit his majors' leading 16th home run and Chris Sale struck out nine in 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball as the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 to open a three-game series Tuesday night.

Betts' blast was a three-run shot, putting him one home run ahead of teammate J.D. Martinez and Baltimore's Manny Machado for the most in the majors. Rafael Devers launched a solo homer for Boston, which won for the fifth time in six games.

Sale (5-1) was charged with one earned run on four hits and two walks.

Willy Adames' first hit in his MLB debut was a solo shot against Sale, and Daniel Robertson also had an RBI for Tampa Bay. The Rays have lost back-to-back games after their MLB-best six-game win streak.

Tampa Bay starter Jake Faria (3-3) allowed three runs on three hits and a walk while striking out two over 2 2/3 innings before leaving with a left oblique strain.

Rays catcher Wilson Ramos also exited in the third after being hit on his glove hand by a ball. Ramos was diagnosed with a left hand contusion and is day-to-day. Jesus Sucre took over behind the plate.

Boston has won eight of 11 against Tampa Bay this season.

In Adames' first at-bat, he struck out on a 97-mph fastball from Sale to end the Rays' first.

Betts homered in the third on a 3-2 breaking ball from Faria. The ball sailed approximately 405 feet into the left-field seats. Sandy Leon walked and Jackie Bradley Jr. singled to bring up Betts.

Adames homered to left in the fourth, blasting Sale's 1-0 off-speed offering an estimated 385 feet to make it 3-1. Robertson's sacrifice fly one inning later brought the Rays within a run.

Devers' approximate 362-foot homer to right in the sixth, his ninth this year, restored Boston's two-run lead.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Craig Kimbrel got Mallex Smith to ground out to second for his 14th save.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Boston   Tampa Bay
Chris Sale Player Jake Faria
Win W/L Loss
7.2 IP 2.2
9 Strikeouts 2
4 Hits 3
1.17 ERA 10.12
Hitting
Boston   Tampa Bay
Mookie Betts Player Brad Miller
2 Hits 1
3 RBI 0
1 HR 0
5 TB 2
.500 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Boston 7 2 13 .226 8 5 4 4 0 0
Tampa Bay 6 1 11 .194 13 11 2 3 0 0