ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Randy Arozarena hit a three-run homer to propel Tampa Bay to a 9-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night and give the Rays their 12th straight win to begin the season.
The Rays are now one win shy of best major league start since 1900 and matching a team record that was set in June of 2004. Only the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves have have both began a season 13-0.
Tampa Bay has a chance to tie the milestone on Thursday at home against the Red Sox, who have now lost 12 road games in a row to the Rays.
Taj Bradley (1-0) won his major league debut with the Rays, allowing three runs and striking out eight batters in five innings of work.
Arozarenas' opposite-field drive off of Chris Sale (1-1) made the score 3-0 in the first inning. Tampa Bay currently leads the majors with 30 home runs and have outscored opponents 92-27.
Sale gave up six runs, five earned, in four innings.
Wander Franco drove in two runs with a double during a three-run fourth to give the Rays a 6-1 lead.
Alex Verdugo got the first hit off Bradley with a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on Justin Turner's single. Enrique Hernandez stopped an 0-for-28 slide with an RBI double in a two-run fifth to cut the Rays lead to 6-3.
Christian Bethancourt, who came into the game 2-for-19, got his second hit of the game with an RBI double during a two-run fifth to stretch the Tampa Bay lead to 8-3.
Boston's Rafael Devers, who had been hitless in his last 10 at-bats of the series, snapped out of the slump with a three-run blast to pull the Red Sox within one run in the seventh.
Arozarena hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to make it 9-7.
Pete Fairbanks, the fifth Rays reliever, came on in the ninth to get his second save.
Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly left the game in the fifth inning with right elbow pain. After throwing a pitch that hit Yandy Diaz, an emotional Kelly squatted down on the mound and used his hands to cover his face.
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