Condensed Game: Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays – September 19, 2025

Condensed Game: Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays – September 19, 2025

The Red Sox on the road for their final trip of the regular season. Three with the Tampa Bay Rays. And the wild card race has certainly tightened up. The Socks now in the three spot just one and a half games in front of the hottest team in baseball, the Cleveland Guardians. Good evening everybody. Thanks for joining us on a Friday. Dave O’Brien, Lou Maloney, also Jamai Webster. Everybody anxious right now. Lou, I know you don’t like to use the phrase must win. I’ve known you a long time, but there are several veterans in this lineup that must perform right now. Yeah, you know, must wins or if you lose, you go home. But I tell you, tonight is putting that to the test. And it’s because of the way you’ve played in the last week. You look at the last seven games, you are two and five. And it’s because you haven’t swung the bat. Look at this. 3.3 runs a game. And it’s runners in scoring position has been killing you. And you got to look at this man right here. He has to pick it up. Bregman has been here before. He’s played in huge games. You’d love to get him hot for the last nine. Another reason why it’s a mustwin. Well, you got to have it just because of the man you got on the mound right now. And that’s Garrett Crochet taking on the Ray starting pitcher, the right-hander Drew Rasmmanson. Rasmuson hasn’t taken a loss since June 19th. They’ve been very careful about his innings and his pitch load, but he’s been very good while he’s been in the game. Check out the Rays defense across the infield. Be Tristan Gray at third base with Williams and Palasios up the middle. Bob Seymour will be at first base in the outfield left to right. It’s Morell, Pereira, and Low. And then you got Nick Forez behind the plate. And a good sweeper there that’s been dominant. Swing as he strikes out his first man tonight upstairs in 97. One gone. Well, after a couple of soft right cutter, sweeper, here comes fast ball right up top of the zone. Perfect placement. Gets the swing and miss. give her a ground ball at somebody. Little lead and a miss. And down goes low. He strikes out. Second K for Garrett Crochet in the first inning. You know, after a couple of fast balls, almost feel like you give that lefty a shot, right? Especially when you get ahead. I get it. His fast ball’s different, but there’s a reason why you struggle against lefties, which is what Low does. And when you execute the sweeper like that, it’s all you need. You know, you’re going to get that strike out. Got to finish it off here though with two. That brings up Nick Cortez. He’s the catcher hitting just 222. Ground ball up the middle through for a base hit. Diaz Rounding. Here he comes. Throw into third as the run scores and safe for third. Cortez drives into first run. Tampa Bay drawing first blood. One to nothing. And they challenge on this. Still waiting. You got 15 seconds and they will not. He doesn’t hit it hard, but he finds a hole again. Contact is king, right? This ball is not smoked at all up the middle. It’s just that Story’s kind of playing him to pull. Gets up there and again runs in the first inning. Kind of just putting some stress on him. You really got to get out of this right now if you’re crocheting execute. and Rasmmanson with a 3-2 runner taken off and a lag drive and a base hit. That’ll follow right center field. Eaton racer. They’re going to wave in. Here he comes. Throw to the plate. The tag. He’s safe. Didn’t lag on it. And the Red Sox tie this game 1-1 with Daniel Low his 79th RBI. Scored in a single to center. you know, great speed. He never gave up on it. Ran hard all the way through and gave Kyle Hudson a ton of credit over there at third base. You got nobody out. The last thing you want to do is get thrown out at home, right? First out of the inning, but a good turn. He just sort of takes advantage of it. Sends him. Risky play. Risky play. It’s one of those where he is safe. Great call. If he’s out, we’re wondering what just happened. But you got to love it. That aggressiveness paying off like that. Going to see some of their best guys from the Miners swinging a high fly ball to right. Eaton up against the wall, leaping up as he tried to take that one down. But that is a home run. Carson Williams, you’re mentioning the power. He has made it two to one Tampa Bay. Well, it’s his fifth homer of the year. Only 71 at bats. We had 23 in Triple A. jumps all over this first pitch fast ball the other way. You mentioned it, Obie. That’s now 13th home run. His last nine starts plus only 10 in his first 21 starts of the year. When you attack hitters, it’s going to happen, but it’s been happening frequently. It’s only a home run in this ballpark. And swing and a miss. Sweeper strikes out Seymour and two gone. I’m curious to see him here tonight. This is the 4-day rest start. His last one was dominant. Was on five day rest and got him again. He struck him out, but he also gives up the home run to Williams. Two to1 Tampa Bay. Swinging a shot. That one driven deep to left field. Sailing into the corner. And that ball is out here. Home run. Alex Bregman. His 18th. Socks tie it again. 2-2. Oh, he need that. Oh, did he need that? This whole team needed that. First at bat, he draws a walk. It’s a good at bat. Gets a hanger. Again, this is Alex Bregman. Pullside barrel in the air. We mentioned the last time he was in this building, he was five for five in the game with two bombs. He gets a hanger from Rasmus and tie this thing up to two really good at bats. So, we shall see. is that beginning to get him out of it. Masataka now doubled with a chopper up the first baseline. His first at [Applause] it helps when you get your alpha going. Brian kind of lets everybody relax. Hey, I mean just every single year you get it from him. Hits the ball harder than anybody this year. There’s a high glide at right field. Eaton’s backing up a turning around. There’s another one. That’s gone. Well, the home run ball continues to bite Crochet. Second home run tonight for Tampa Bay. They’re back on top 3-2. That’s the one guy you have to circle and say he can’t beat you. Yeah. And he has he’s killed you here already. Three innings in. Double on a run and now a solo shot the other way. It’s it’s a concern. And again, you know, I mentioned the other last inning that, you know, Garrett here on four days rest and he’s he had 10 straight starts at 5 days rest, he was absolutely dominant and then he went back to back four days and that second one was that Cleveland game. He just didn’t look right. Of course, five days rest his last outing and he was dominant against the A’s in the Yankees rather and he was good in the Yankees. Gave up a couple shots but this one here today just solo homers. Fell behind is just a big strong guy. Number 25 in the year for Diaz. He needed 10 strikeouts coming into the game tonight to become the first left-hander to strike out 250 since Chris Sail did it in 2017. walked a couple of men. He’s allowed two home runs as well, but this one just his 47th pitch and in there for strike three. He punches out Gray and a 3-2 down he goes. Hacking backto back Kes give him six. Two gone. Sinker again. [Music] We talk about he’s been using it more, but really it’s been really kind of a way to lefty to righties rather to kind of show him something out or half. But it’s a good pitch. His fast ball four seemed dominant. You start throwing that a little bit more. Keep some of these guys honest. Can miss some more barrels. Maybe historic cut missed. A meager cut to strike him out. And Crochet bounces back and strikes out the side in the fourth. [Music] for Ray on deck and a 3-2 swing and a miss. Eight them up. Pretty nasty. 97. That’s four straight KS for him going back to last inning. And it’s another sinker. He’s been going to it right now. This is the highest sinker rate he’s thrown all year. And I love it. Number one, it’s tough to hit with that late movement at 97. Number two, if you do get a piece of it, it’s probably going to be a ground ball. Could help him with these balls that are leaving the ballpark. Swinging in a miss. He got him. Struck him out. So that’s nine for Crochet, but he really had to battle there a couple of times in that inning. And it remains 3-2 Tampa Bay third on the cut of the grass and leaning in. Swinging a high fly ball right field deep. This is carrying. Oh man, is it ever. It’s out of here. A two-run bomb by Jared Durant. He hit the daylights out of it. And the Socks are in the lead for three. Forget about the bunk. He just absolutely unloads on this pitch. 385. His 16th home run of the season. Man, did the Socks need that. A two-run shot. Well, you needed something, right? You look at this team right now, you look at Alex Bregman, you look at Trevor Story, and Jiren Durant is starting to get into that class on this roster of a guy you want. You need to step up. Did he ever [Applause] look at this? Look at that little cutter. He just unloads on this thing. Take your time. Give me the back flip. Beautiful. Enjoy that. And a chopper up the middle. That’s going to kick into center field for a base hit. Gonzalez round. He will score easily. The Red Sox had a giant run. I’m just going to keep calling for bunts. I am. We’re just going to keep calling for bunts. I want everybody to bun over me. Everybody, please keep doing it. A lot of times, cuz I bun a lot in my career, you square in the first one, you don’t get it down. Sometimes the manager takes it off cuz he thinks he can buy you a fast ball 01, but you have to as a hitter attack this thing. Now, he doesn’t smoke it, but he does the right thing. Kind of stays inside of it. If nothing else, it’s a ground ball to the right side, and he moves him anyway, but he ends up getting a knock out of this thing. You know, if William Bray, who in fact is in the lineup tomorrow at some point over the weekend, certainly feels like that’s about to happen. Nate Eaton’s going to come out of right field obviously, but he continues to swing a good bat. He came in hitting over 300 and he has two more knocks tonight and a one- nothing. And a base hit into right field to third. Going to wave him home. He’s going to score without a throw. The Red Sox on the board again. Third hit tonight for Sidon Raphaela. Red Sox on top six to three. And the second one to right field. Second one to right field. This is something that you haven’t seen much from him throughout his career. They actually want him to pull the ball in the air, but I did hear Cor the other day talking about using right field more, letting the ball get a little deeper, trusting your hands. That’s a really good sign here from St. John Raphael. Use the word swagger. Perfect for him. And a bounding ball up the middle. Knocked down by Palasios. And he has no play as another run scores. Seven to three Boston. So the Red Sox open up a fourrun advantage in the eighth. A couple times now Palasios is basically just knocked the ball down when he was supposed to catch it. I don’t know where he was going to go with this. I don’t think Williams is going to get to second in time. He had to go to first to get Story getting down the line. Would have got a run in anyway. Would have been a tough play. 3-1. And that’s going to be ball four. Bring another run in. Son will score. And the Socks getting very comfortable in the eighth inning. They now lead it eight to three. If there’s ever been a team that has needed an inning like this, it’s the Boston Reds. Let’s take it right. No question about that. People loosening up in there. Not just in there. Romy will slap that one behind the bag. A long throw for Gray. He skips it and another one scores. And right behind Trevor Story, he will score as well. Masataka takes a wide turn around. Thurman goes back. So this is turning into a lapper at Steinbrerfield tonight. Tampa Bay’s defense with a big helping hand. And the Red Sox lead at 10 to three. This is nice. He slips out of the box. Gray at third just kind of bounces this ball. Zimo can’t come up with it. And it’s that’s what you’re looking for, right? 11 to four. Whitlock, you take a seat. Chapman, you take a seat. We’ll see you tomorrow night. I said you’re not in position to save anybody, but it’s nice be able to sit those guys down and have them ready for the rest of the series. Ahead 103 and all the way to the back stop. Oh, play at the plate and Moss is in to score. You hit him. It did hit him. So, he is going to score anyway. Just want to show that speed off. [Applause] He still hasn’t been caught stealing his entire career. 13 for 13. One of the best in the game. [Applause] So Red Sox scoring every way you can now lead it 11 to three. [Applause] Swinging a high drive deep to left field. That’s way way back. And that is gone. A grand slam off of Murphy. [Music] [Applause] So, two walks of base hit to Granny and some late fireworks here in the ninth inning. That’ll make it 117. That was a curve ball, too. You know guys going into that at bat they were one for 40 on his curve ball. That’s a 25 batting average. They’re now two for 41. You know what the both hits are? Homers. Good pitch but he just left this thing up. Korea smokes this thing. And Bailey out to talk with Murphy here. The walks really hurting him there. And Yandi Diaz will step in next. A very tough out who has doubled, homerred, and walked tonight. 2-2 swing and a miss. Finally, it’s over. Red Sox win it 117 the final. Durant’s home run. The key hit in the contest. And Tampa Bay has been eliminated from postseason contention with this Red Sox win. Well, forget about the ninth. That just happened. But you really needed this game. We talk about crochet on the mound. I don’t believe in must wins, but this is about as close as it comes. And the offense woke up. Nice to see Bregman. Nice to see Sidon kind of start swinging the bat. You really need those two. And of course, Duran, that was the big blow in the game. That’s a good win.

Highlights from the Boston Red Sox 11-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on September 19, 2025.