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Tampa Bay’s Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson drove in two runs apiece during a four-run first inning, Victor Mesa Jr. homered and the Rays defeated the visiting Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Rays (95-60) completed their final regular-season homestand with an 8-1 record. They sent nine batters to the plate in the first and concluded their home schedule with a major league-best 55-26 mark.

Starter Griffin Jax (8-10) allowed three hits over five scoreless innings. He fanned five, walked two and threw 74 pitches.

Trevor Story homered, and Roman Anthony (double) and Caleb Durbin each went 2-for-4. However, Boston (84-72) managed only six hits in losing its second straight.

Starter Patrick Sandoval (1-7) rebounded from a terrible beginning to finish seven innings, allowing five runs on four hits. He struck out five, walked two and hit a batter in 94 pitches.

The first five Tampa Bay batters reached against Sandoval, and DeLuca doubled in two runs before Simpson singled in two more as the Rays batted around in the first.

Jax was dialed in early after yielding a leadoff single to Anthony. The right-hander retired 10 consecutive batters, four on strikeouts, before Adley Rutschman singled with one out in the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, Mesa made it 5-0 by cranking Sandoval’s 95 mph four-seamer a Statcast-projected 403 feet out to right-center for his 14th homer.

The Red Sox had a chance to get back in it by loading the bases in the fifth on a single by Durbin and two walks, but Anthony — who drove in five of the club’s six runs in the series — whiffed to end it on a sinking 2-2 changeup from Jax, the starter’s final pitch.

After a fire alarm beyond center field caused a short delay, Cole Sulser tossed a perfect sixth as Tampa Bay’s bullpen began four innings of one-run relief.

Story hit his fifth homer with one out in the ninth to spoil the shutout.

–Field Level Media

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