Red Sox rally late to win sixth in a row

BOSTON — Thirteen innings on the road. Twelve at home. Last year, this year — it doesn’t matter how long it takes for the Boston Red Sox.

They just keep winning in extra innings.

Hanley Ramirez blooped a bases-loaded fly ball over the drawn-in outfield in right to break a 12thinning tie and the Red Sox, who rallied from a two-run deficit in the ninth, beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Thursday for their sixth straight victory.

It was the ninth straight Red Sox win in an extrainning game, dating to 2017, when they were 15-3 in extras. They beat the Miami Marlins in 13 innings on Tuesday night before returning home for the Fenway opener.

“It seems like it’s not a good game unless we play extra innings,” said Mookie Betts, whose single was the first of four hits in the ninth after Boston had just three in the first eight innings.

Tampa Bay beat Boston in the season opener last week.

The Rays haven’t won — and the Red Sox haven’t lost — since. The teams have met five times already this season, with all four Boston victories by one run.

“We’ve played fairly even by run-scoring, I guess,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But unfortunately they’ve got us four times and we only got them once.”

Bobby Poyner (1-0) pitched two innings, striking out three for his first major league win. Andrew Kittredge (0-2) took the loss, throwing a pair of scoreless innings before running into trouble in

the 12th.

Jackie Bradley Jr. led off with a double, then took third on sacrifice bunt. Kittredge intentionally walked Betts and then,

after he took second, walked Andrew Benintendi to load the bases. With one out and the outfield in, Ramirez looped the ball to right off Ryan Yarbrough that one-hopped the wall.

With the sun beginning to set over the third-base

stands and temperatures dropping from a firstpitch reading of 40 degrees, the Red Sox were glad to be finished. They came running out of the dugout to celebrate, and Ramirez fled into the outfield with his teammates in pursuit.

One tried to douse him with a cup of water, but missed.

“It was cold,” Ramirez said. “I think it was the coldest I’ve ever played in my life.”

David Price pitched seven shutout innings for the second straight outing.

Maddie Meyer / Getty Images Hanley Ramirez celebrates after hitting a walk-off single, driving in Jackie Bradley Jr., during the 12th inning of Boston’s home opener against the Rays at Fenway Park on Thursday.