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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Rafael Devers hit a home run for the sixth straight game, breaking a franchise record while sitting just two contests away from tying the major-league mark.
Tanner Houck dominated one start after throwing a career-high 112 pitches against this same Rays team, this time not allowing a run and only two hits over seven innings.
This is your offensive star. This is your pitching star. And when the two of them do has become the norm, the Red Sox are going to get the kind of results they uncovered in what had become the rarest of rare feats - a 5-0 win at Tropicana Field.
There were other reasons the Red Sox found this second win in their last 17 tries at the home of the Rays. Cedanne Rafaela deposited a 95 mph fastball from Taj Bradley into the right field seats for the visitors' fourth and fifth runs. And Jarren Duran became the first Red Sox since Tris Speaker in 1913 to total as many as eight triples in the team's first 48 games. (Both were in rebounding from a start against Bradley that saw the Tampa Bay starter strikeout eight of his first nine batters.)
At the end of the day, however, the presence of Devers and Houck was what seemingly made the world go 'round.
Start with the third baseman, who has now hit in 10 straight games - dating back to when Washington manager Dave Martinez intentionally walked Tyler O'Neill to get to Devers. And while the Sox' slugger will point to there has been only two multi-hit games in that stretch, consider his OPS in this run is 1.130.
Another important piece of the equation this time around: There was a runner on base when he left the yard. Prior to this two-run homer, Devers had been 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position since that curious decision by Martinez.
"You take in where Raffy Devers is right now, he's probably the hottest hitter in baseball, and he's doing a lot of special things at the plate,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash.
"I've been only getting one hit per game and that's not me,” Devers said. “I like to get more singles and I feel like I've been missing a lot of my pitches. So for me to be myself I need to get more hits every game instead of just one per game. Of course, the [homers] are very important hits. But at the same time, I'm not up there yet."
Then there is Houck, who has undeniably evolved into one of the top starters in the American League this season.
What stood out this time around was how Houck didn't skip a beat despite the familiarity possessed by a Rays lineup which managed just one earned run in 5 2/3 innings five days earlier.
"That he threw 112 in the last one and he faced the same team and he dominated," said Cora when asked what impressed him about Houck's performance. "He threw strikes. He kept them off balance. We played good defense behind him. That's what horses do."