After back-to-back demoralizing losses to the Rays, the last thing you want to hear is that this somehow involves the Yankees, but here I am to put the cherry on top of the garbage sundae that has been this series.
On Tuesday night, the Red Sox again got pummeled by the Rays, this time losing 12-7. They’ve scored 17 runs over their last two games and lost both of them, which is as unacceptable as it sounds.
Eduardo Rodriguez went 3 2/3 innings, and after a scoreless first, gave away the farm. He allowed six earned runs on eight hits, and only struck out three, before Alex Cora picked up the bullpen phone. The bullpen made matters worse, doubling the score before the game came to a merciful end.
But when you’re playing at Fenway Park, the oldest and most historic of all the ballparks, when something crazy happens, it’s likely that at some point in the last 109 years has already done the same thing.
Tonight, the Rays’ offensive power evoked none other than some of the greatest players to ever wear pinstripes…
Nelson Cruz passes Babe Ruth in Fenway history
Nelson Cruz loves to rake at Fenway. He once hit two three-run homers off knuckleballer Steven Wright in one wild Friday night game at Fenway in 2018. The difference is that the Red Sox actually managed to win that one.
On Tuesday night, Cruz went 4-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored, and four RBI. In doing so, he improved his career Fenway OPS to 1.025, a tick about Babe Ruth’s 1.024, which had been the seventh-highest in the park’s history. By the end of the game, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe noted that Cruz had likely also passed Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew on the all-time list.
Congratulations to Cruz, but also… pain.
The Red Sox get rocked by the second coming of Mantle and Maris
In 1961, Yankees right-fielder Roger Maris made MLB history when he hit his 61st home run. Until then, former Red Sox/Yankees legend Babe Ruth held the record for more home runs in a single season when he hit 60 in 1927.
But before that, on May 30, Maris and Mantle had themselves a day at Fenway Park. Maris, the number-three hitter, went 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI, including two home runs. Mantle, batting cleanup, also hit two home runs and drove in four.
On Tuesday night, Cruz and Mike Zunino evoked Mantle and Maris by each homering twice and driving in four or more runs. According to Stats by STATS, they are the only two duos to achieve the feat at America’s most beloved ballpark.
Another irritating coincidence: the 1961 Yankees and 2021 Rays both scored 12 runs in these games.
Mercifully, the Sox and Rays have their last matchup of 2021 tomorrow, and while Tampa Bay has already won the season series, Boston is overdue for an angry win.