Díaz leads Rays to win over Red Sox

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz had three hits, scored three times and drove in three runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 10-5 on Monday night.

Díaz's 10th multihit game since June 26 raised his batting average to .500 (27 for 54) over his last 15 games.

Tampa Bay had dropped four of six, including a three-game series sweep at lowly Cincinnati over the weekend.

After being called up for the second time this season on Monday, Luke Bard (1-0) pitched three innings for his first major league win since 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels. The 31-yearold right-hander is making a case for a long reliever spot with the big league club.

"They mentioned last time, when I was optioned, that that was kind of the need up here, and asked if I was comfortable with it," Bard said. "I told them I would do whatever gets me here and keeps me here. I saw what was needed tonight and I was happy to fill that void."

J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo had two hits apiece for the Red Sox, who have given up 25 runs in losing their last three games against the Rays.

The Rays led 5-1 after nine of their first 13 hitters (including Díaz and Ji-Man Choi twice each) reached base safely against Brayan Bello.

But Martinez hit a two-run double in the third, then doubled again in the fifth and scored on Bogaerts' tying single.

Only a fully horizontal diving catch by center fielder Brett Phillips, robbing Trevor Story of a second-inning RBI double, kept the Rays from falling behind at that point.

Díaz regained the lead for Tampa Bay with a run-scoring double off Jake Diekman (4-1) in the sixth. Harold Ramirez then made it 7-5 when he drove in Díaz with a pinch-hit single off Kaleb Ort.

Díaz added a sacrifice fly in the eighth when the Rays tacked on three unearned runs.

"A lot of times in this game you hit the ball hard and you get nothing to show for it," said Diaz, who has hit safely in 14 of 15 games. "Now I'm hitting balls that are falling in for hits."

Bello permitted five runs and seven hits in four innings in his second major league start.