Sox just miss in attempt to sweep

Myers doubles in the 8th for Rays win

Rays 4 Red Sox 3

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Wil Myers hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Thursday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

Myers drove in Evan Longoria, who also doubled off Rubby De La Rosa (0-1), to give the Rays a 4-3 lead.

Jake McGee ( 5- 3) pitched a scoreless eighth before Fernando Rodney got three outs to earn his 34th save. The Rays lead the crowded race for the second AL wild card despite going 5-13 since Aug. 25.

David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered for Boston, which has an 8 1/2-game advantage over second- place Tampa Bay in the AL East.

The Red Sox threatened in the ninth when Stephen Drew had an infield single and pinch-hitter

Mike Carp walked with one out. Rodney worked out of the jam when pinch- hitter Will Middlebrooks lined out to third and Dustin Pedroia popped out.

Ortiz hit an opposite-field solo homer to left and Drew had a run-scoring double as the Red Sox tied it at 3 in the sixth.

Ortiz has 43 career homers against Tampa Bay, the second-most by an opponent. Of those, 28 have come at Tropicana Field.

Longoria tripled and scored on Myers’ single to put the Rays ahead 1-0 in the second. James Loney made it 2-0 with an RBI double in the third.

Saltalamacchia snapped an 0- for- 21 stretch and pulled Boston to 2-1 on a fourth-inning homer.

Tampa Bay went up 3-1 in the bottom half when Desmomd Jennings hit a solo home run.

Rays s t a r t e r Jeremy Hellickson allowed three runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Boston right- hander Jake Peavy appeared to get hit in the leg by Jennings’ drive in the sixth. The ball was redirected to third baseman Xander Bogaerts, who got a force out at second.

Peavy gave up three runs, four hits and five walks over six innings.

Notes: The Red Sox will honor New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera before his last regular-season game at Fenway Park on Sunday. Rivera is retiring after the season.