{"id":41707,"date":"2025-04-17T07:57:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T07:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=41707"},"modified":"2025-04-17T07:57:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T07:57:20","slug":"red-sox-get-1-in-30-luck-to-beat-rays-with-surprising-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=41707","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox get 1-in-30 luck to beat Rays with surprising hero"},"content":{"rendered":"
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David Hamilton goes deep and leads the Red Sox to a win.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Boston<\/figure>\n
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The\u00a0Red Sox needed just one swing, one pitch, and a whole lot of bullpen brilliance to edge out the\u00a0Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 on Wednesday night \u2014 and the unlikeliest of heroes stepped up in the moment.<\/p>\n

David Hamilton, entering the game with just one hit in 21 at-bats this season, delivered the difference-maker: a 335-foot solo home run in the third inning that hugged the right-field foul pole. It had just a 3.33-second hang time \u2014 the shortest of any home run in the majors this year \u2014 and,\u00a0per Statcast, would not have left the yard in any other big league ballpark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I was hoping it would get down,\u201d Hamilton admitted postgame. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was going over. It\u2019s a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton’s rare power surge broke his early-season slump and gave the Red Sox (11-9) all they needed to take the series finale against the Rays (10-10). But it wasn\u2019t just the bat \u2014\u00a0Boston\u2019s pitching staff turned in a gem. Starter Sean Newcomb delivered his best outing in years, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings and holding Tampa Bay to four singles and two walks. It was\u00a0his longest scoreless appearance since June 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the four [starts], it was definitely the best one,\u201d Newcomb said. \u201cNow I kind of feel locked in and ready to roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Sox defeat the Rays, David Hamilton breaks out of his slump<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Newcomb exited with two outs in the fifth and the tying run on second, handing the ball to Greg Weissert, who promptly struck out Yandy D\u00edaz to preserve the slim lead. Weissert, Garrett Whitlock, and Justin Slaten combined to retire 13 of the final 14 Rays hitters with no walks and nine strikeouts. Slaten locked down the ninth with a clean 1-2-3 frame, picking up his second save of the year. Manager Alex Cora praised the bullpen effort, as well as the preparation it took after a rough start to the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody sees the usage and not taking the starter out early and all that,\u201d Cora said. \u201cBut you have to manage the series. We\u2019re not going to survive otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Sox offense didn\u2019t offer much support outside of Hamilton\u2019s homer, going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranding six. But they also struck out just seven times \u2014 a small win for a team that entered Wednesday leading MLB in strikeouts and had fanned 10+ times in 13 of its 20 games.<\/p>\n

Rafael Devers collected a walk and a single in his 1,000th career game, becoming the 31st Red Sox player to hit the milestone and only the 12th to do it before turning 29. Following the win, Boston heads home for a much-needed off day Thursday after playing 20 games in 21 days. They\u2019ll return to Fenway Park for a seven-game homestand beginning Friday against the White Sox and Mariners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t played great for a while,\u201d Cora said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve had back-to-back clean games. If we keep doing that, we\u2019re going to have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Hamilton goes deep and leads the Red Sox to a win. The\u00a0Red Sox needed just one swing, one pitch, and a whole lot of bullpen brilliance… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nRed Sox get 1-in-30 luck to beat Rays with surprising hero - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=41707\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox get 1-in-30 luck to beat Rays with surprising hero - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Hamilton goes deep and leads the Red Sox to a win. 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