Josh Lowe, Taj Bradley lead Rays to 2-1 victory over Red Sox

BOSTON (AP) — Josh Lowe hit an RBI double and scored a run in the seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Friday night.

Right-hander Taj Bradley (8-11) got the win, going six scoreless innings while giving up three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts and a hit batter.

“It’s always good to go into the offseason with a good start, a good taste in your mouth,” said Bradley, who became the third pitcher in Tampa Bay history to record 150 or more strikeouts at age 23 or younger, joining Scott Kazmir (2005-07) and Matt Moore (2012).

“I just felt good with everything. There’s stuff (pitching coach Kyle Snyder) and I talked about for the past few weeks, and I was able to execute. And I was just giddy coming off the mound knowing that I did that.”

Lowe’s double broke a scoreless tie and scored Jonathan Aranda, who drew a one-out walk off Boston starter Nick Pivetta (6-12) before Jonny DeLuca’s single. DeLuca was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Lowe’s hit, driving Pivetta from the game, with left-hander Zach Penrod entering.

“A couple good swings, (opposite field) on both of them,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Lowe, who had two hits. “Another guy, good to see doing some good things.”

Pivetta, who can become a free agent after the season, went 6 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits, a walk and six strikeouts.

“It’s been a hefty four years, almost five years for me and there’s a lot to be grateful for," Pivetta said. "A lot of opportunities have been given and try to take advantage of every single one. But also I’ve had a lot of help along the way and there’s been a lot of people around that have helped guide me and a lot of them are in the dugout and the coaching staff. So, it’s really emotional for me.”

“Excellent,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Pivetta’s outing. “The walk put him in a bad spot, we were talking about that, but, overall, a really good one.”

Penrod allowed all three batters he faced to reach base. He walked Richie Palacios, hit Jose Caballero with a pitch and walked pinch hitter Christopher Morel to score Lowe.

Penrod was relieved by right-hander Luis Guerrero, who ended the threat by inducing a ground out from lead-off hitter Yandy Diaz.

Boston answered back in the bottom of the inning, with Rays left-hander Colin Poche on the mound. After Masataka Yoshida flied out, Vaughn Grissom singled, took second on a wild pitch and then advanced to third on pinch hitter Romy Gonzalez’s single. Nick Sogard’s sacrifice fly scored Grissom.

No. 9 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela reached on a fielding error by third baseman Junior Caminero, but Jarren Duran’s fly out ended the inning.

Edwin Uceta pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save of the season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: OF Tyler O’Neill was not in the starting lineup on Friday. While he is not on the injured list, he has missed time recently with a back injury. It is not known if Friday’s absence is related to that injury.

UP NEXT

RHP Kutter Crawford (9-15, 4.17 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Red Sox Saturday afternoon, opposed by Tampa Bay RHP Shane Baez (3-3, 3.07).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Maureen Mullen, The Associated Press