Author of the article:
Reuters
J.D. Martinez homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-3 win against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in the regular-season finale for both teams Wednesday afternoon.
Xander Bogaerts and Christian Arroyo contributed two hits for the Red Sox, who finished 78-84, their worst mark since finishing with the same record in 2015.
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Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta went four innings, allowing two runs and four hits while striking out five and walking three.
Eduard Bazardo (1-0) pitched a scoreless fifth for Boston to earn his first MLB win in his 14th relief appearance over the past two seasons.
Ji-Man Choi had three hits, including a two-run homer, and Vidal Brujan also homered for Tampa Bay (86-76), which opens the American League wild-card round on Friday at the Cleveland Guardians.
Josh Fleming (2-5) allowed four runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Rays, who finished the regular season on a five-game losing streak. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
Rafael Devers and Bogaerts had back-to-back one-out singles in the first before Martinez came up with two outs and blasted a three-run homer into the Boston bullpen in right-center field for a 3-0 lead.
Randy Arozarena singled with one out in the third before Choi came up and lifted a full-count fastball over the fence in left for a two-run homer that cut the lead to 3-2.
Martinez teed off on another two-strike pitch when he homered off a Fleming changeup to lead off the fourth and extend the lead to 4-2.
Brujan went deep in the seventh to trim Boston’s lead to 4-3.
Matt Strahm, John Schreiber and Matt Barnes also pitched scoreless innings of relief for Boston, with Barnes earning his eighth save.
–Field Level Media
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