BOSTON (AP) — Austin Meadows hit a tying, inside-the-park homer in the ninth inning, Nelson Cruz had a go-ahead single in the 10th and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 11-10 on Monday.
The AL East-leading Rays took advantage of four errors, the biggest when center fielder Alex Verdugo appeared to lose Cruz’s high fly in the sun with bases loaded and two outs in the fourth.
The ball glanced off Verdugo’s glove and Cruz wound up circling the bases on the play, scoring on second baseman Taylor Motter’s wild throw that let Tampa Bay close to 7-5 against ace Chris Sale.
Cruz also homered and had a pair of RBI singles as the Rays increased their AL East lead to 8 1/2 games over New York. The Red Sox missed a chance to move ahead of the Yankees for the top AL wild-card spot.
Wander Franco had four hits for the Rays. Collin McHugh (6-1) got the win.
Hunter Renfroe had three hits and two RBIs for Boston. Garrett Whitlock (7-3) got the loss.
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