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Rays Use 5-Run 8th To Beat Red Sox 8-4

Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts races home on an RBI double by David Ortiz during the first inning.  (Chris O'Meara/AP)
Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts races home on an RBI double by David Ortiz during the first inning. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

Junichi Tazawa was charged with a blown save in his third straight appearance.

He gave up three runs in Tampa Bay's five-run eighth inning Friday night and the Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Friday night. Tazawa's recent efforts have raised the question of whether the right-hander might be wearing down in the final month of a long season.

"I don't feel any different," Tarawa said through a translator. "I think it's more missed location, just mechanics, release point. The last couple outings were better, but today was definitely off."

Asdrubal Cabrera and J.P. Arencibia hit two-run homers in the Rays' big inning. Cabrera's homer came off Tazawa (2-7) and Arencibia tacked on two more runs with a homer off Noe Ramirez. It was Arencibia's fifth homer in 34 at-bats at the major league level this season.

Andrew Bellatti (3-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win.

Boston slugger David Ortiz remained two homers shy of becoming the 27th player to reach 500. He had an RBI double and a single in four at-bats. He was also intentionally walked.

Enny Romero replaced Rays starter Chris Archer with two on and no outs in the sixth and gave up a run-scoring double to Travis Shaw and Pablo Sandoval's RBI infield single that tied it at 3. Ryan Hanigan gave Boston a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly off Brandon Gomes.

That lead held up until the bad inning for Tazawa, who has a 6.54 ERA over his last 32 appearances after posting a 1.33 ERA in 29 games through June 11.

Interim manager Tory Lovullo dismissed the notion that Tazawa is out of gas.

"I really don't think so," Lovullo said. "He's in tremendous shape, he wants to be in that moment. I just think his fastball command right now is inconsistent, puts him into situations where he is predictable at times."

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead on Ortiz's double to deep center in the first. He moved past Chipper Jones into sole possession of 32nd place all-time with his 1,624th RBI.

Archer lasted five-plus innings despite a stretch where he tied a team record with seven consecutive strikeouts. He allowed three runs, five hits, two walks and struck out eight.

Wade Miley allowed three runs and seven hits over seven innings for Boston, coming back from a rough first inning to retire 11 straight at one point.

Boston's Mookie Betts extended his career-high hitting streak to 16 games with a seventh-inning single.

Red Sox second baseman Brock Holt left game in the seventh inning with upper back spasms.

MORE BIG PAPI

Ortiz has 2,286 hits to move past Joe Cronin for 158th place on the MLB career list. Cronin had his No. 4 retired by Boston in 1984. ... The DH moved past Dave Winfield into 20th place all-time with 1,094 extra-base hits. A good portion of those, he has 925 with Boston, ties Ortiz for third place on the team list with Dwight Evans. ... Ortiz is expected to be rested a few times during a nine-game trip that includes six games on artificial turf at Tampa Bay and Toronto.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia got a scheduled day off after playing two straight games after missing 42 with a strained right hamstring.

Rays: OF Desmond Jennings (left knee) and C Curt Casali (left hamstring) both could return next week. ... LHP Jake McGee (left knee) is throwing off a bullpen mound.

MOVING DAY

The Red Sox claimed RHP Roman Mendez off waivers from Texas and transferred closer Koji Uehara (broken right wrist) from the 15- to 60-day DL.

UP NEXT

Boston RHP Rick Porcello (7-12) and Rays LHP Matt Moore (1-3) are Saturday night's scheduled starters.

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