ST. PETERSBURG — Drew Rasmussen struck out a career-high 13 batters over seven scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays completed their MLB-leading seventh sweep of the season, dispatching the Boston Red Sox and improving to 40-25.
The victory gave the Rays wins in each of their first 12 home games against divisional opponents, making them only the fifth team to accomplish that feat since divisions were established in 1969 and the first since the 2009 Dodgers.
“I think today was just a day where stuff and execution matched up really well,” Rasmussen said.
The right-hander became the fifth pitcher in franchise history to work at least seven scoreless innings while striking out 13 or more. He finished two strikeouts shy of matching the franchise record of 15 set by James Shields on Oct. 2, 2012, and matched by Chris Archer on June 2, 2015. It was the Rays’ first 13-strikeout performance since Tyler Glasnow fanned 14 in six innings against the Red Sox on Sept. 6, 2023.
Rasmussen generated 20 whiffs overall, tied for the second most in his career behind the 22 he produced against the Yankees on Sept. 9, 2022. He allowed only four baserunners — two singles, a walk and a hit batter — on 97 pitches. “Staying under 100 pitches, I think, is pretty cool for the swing-and-miss that we were able to achieve,” Rasmussen said.
His dominance was most visible against Boston’s top three hitters. Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu went a combined 0-for-9 with nine strikeouts against him, becoming the first trio of starters in the top three spots of a batting order to each strike out in their first three plate appearances since at least 1900, per Elias. “I think he just executed his pitches. I’m not taking anything from him,” Rafaela said. “It wasn’t a really good day for us.”
Catcher Nick Fortes, who had a career-high-tying four hits including two doubles and scored three runs, marveled at Rasmussen’s arsenal. “He was unbelievable. He had everything working,” Fortes said. “And he got ahead, which has kind of been an emphasis for us for his past two starts. He’s done a really good job getting back into the zone and putting himself in a good spot to be able to put guys away later in counts.”
Fortes said calling the game was a luxury. “It’s a blast,” he said. “You can sit back there and kind of, like, get creative, because you know that he’s going to execute and he can do a lot of different things with the baseball.”
Rasmussen struck out each of the first four batters he faced and retired the minimum 12 batters through four innings on just 44 pitches, generating 14 swinging strikes — matching his season high — before the fifth inning began. He finished strikeouts with four pitch types: his four-seamer (five), cutter (five), sinker (two) and changeup (one).
Manager Kevin Cash said the sweep was a needed reset after a 3-10 stretch that had erased the club’s sizable lead in the American League East. “I’m happy about it. I know the guys are excited,” Cash said. “We needed to kind of feel a little bit better about ourselves [after] the last 10-11 games, and I think this series probably did that.”
The Rays headed west for a weeklong trip to Southern California following the series.