Yonny Chirinos struggled out of the gate against the Red Sox, allowing two runs in the first inning. It was not how the Rays wanted to start this contest, especially after going into it just with just one game separating the two teams. Chirinos recovered nicely, however, holding the Sox to those same two runs for another 4.2 innings.
The Rays offense was tasked with handling the tall Boston southpaw Chris Sale, who was coming off a start against the Blur Jays in which he struck out a dozen in six shutout innings. His previous three starts were not as pretty, allowing a combined 15 earned runs.