Morning, afternoon, night, rain, suspended game.
It didn't matter to the Tampa Bay Rays, who completed a four-game sweep in Fenway Park with an 8-2 win over Boston on Monday.
B.J. Upton hit a three-run homer, Jason Bartlett had three hits and Jeff Niemann allowed two runs in seven innings in the annual Patriots Day game that started at 11:05 a.m.
Friday night's game was suspended by rain with the score tied 1-1 in the ninth inning. The game was resumed Saturday night and the Rays won 3-1 in 12 innings. Tampa Bay then won Saturday's scheduled game, 6-5 before taking Sunday afternoon's game, 7-1.
Monday's win was even easier. The Rays scored a run in the first, blew the game open with a five-run third, which was highlighted by Upton's home run, and added two in the fourth.
All of the damage came against John Lackey (1-1), who was roughed up for eight runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.
Lackey was 9-2 with a 3.07 ERA in his career against Tampa Bay while pitching for the Angels.
Niemann (1-0) made his only mistake in the seventh when Jeremy Hermida hit a two-run homer. The right-hander allowed five hits in seven innings.
Bartlett, who was 0-for-14 for the series, started the game with a double, singled in the third and tripled in the fourth .
Tampa Bay is 7-0 on the road while Boston is 1-6 at Fenway.
Tampa Bay | Boston | |
Jeff Niemann | Player | John Lackey |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 3.1 |
4 | Strikeouts | 3 |
5 | Hits | 9 |
2.57 | ERA | 21.60 |
Tampa Bay | Boston | |
Pat Burrell | Player | Jeremy Hermida |
3 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
4 | TB | 4 |
.750 | Avg | .333 |