Benintendi leads Red Sox over Rays on Patriots’ Day

BOSTON » Andrew Benintendi hit a go-ahead, two-run single as Boston scored three unearned runs following a dropped throw by second baseman Brad Miller, and the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Monday in the annual Patriots’ Day game.

Benintendi had three singles in the 11:05 a.m. start, which coincides with the Boston Marathon, and the Red Sox won their third straight after losing the opener of the fourgame series.

Knuckleballer Steven Wright (1-1) allowed three runs — one earned — and nine hits in six innings. He gave up four homers over 1 1/3 innings in his previous start.

Rookie Ben Taylor gave up a runscoring single to Souza with two outs in the seventh, then retired Logan Morrison on a bases-loaded flyout. Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for a save on the third straight day, his sixth this season.

Boston trailed 2-1 in the second when Miller dropped an easy toss from shortstop Tim Beckham for what would have been an inningending forceout on Marco Hernandez’s grounder. Benintendi’s single to center put the Red Sox ahead, and Mookie Betts singled for a 4-2 lead.

Blake Snell (0-2) gave up four runs — one earned — and seven hits in five innings. The Rays completed a 1-6 trip that followed a franchisebest 5-2 start.

Some of the Rays were playful in their clubhouse early in the morning, with Morrison joking to teammates about the starting time: “11 o’clock. Let’s play baseball.”

Brad Miller and Souza hit consecutive run-scoring grounders in the first. Both runs were unearned because Hernandez, Boston’s third baseman, dropped a foul popup by Kevin Kiermaier, who then singled.

Hanley Ramirez’s RBI single in the bottom half cut the lead in half.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Ramirez was back in the starting lineup at DH after coming out of Sunday’s game with a left hamstring cramp . ... LHP Eduardo Rodriguez was placed on paternity leave after his wife, Catherine, gave birth to a boy Sunday. He will miss his scheduled start in Toronto on Tuesday.

SPECIAL UNIFORM

The Red Sox wore white home jerseys with “Boston” across the front instead of “Red Sox.” It also included a patch that read “Boston Strong.” The jerseys and patch were created

after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

MICHAEL DWYER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Boston Red Sox outfielders, from left, Chris Young, Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts celebrate after the Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 during a baseball game Monday in Boston.