Red Sox Sleepwalk for Eight Innings, Then Lose 2–1 in Walk-Off Gut Punch
Gasper’s ninth-inning triple wasted as bullpen hands Rays the game in final frame
If you enjoy offense, drama, or basic human joy… you picked the wrong game.
The Red Sox and Rays spent eight innings locked in what can only be described as Competitive Napping™ before Boston briefly woke up in the ninth… only to immediately hand the game back in the bottom half.
Final: Rays 2, Red Sox 1.
Yes, it was as thrilling as it sounds.
Game at a Glance
The First Eight Innings: A Tribute to Groundouts
Let’s recap the early action.
Actually… let’s not. There wasn’t any.
Top of the first? Strikeout, flyout, groundout.
Bottom of the first? Groundout, groundout, groundout.
That was the tone.
Connelly Early and the bullpen carousel (Zack Kelly, Kyle Keller, Wyatt Olds, Noah Song) did their jobs. Tampa Bay couldn’t generate anything meaningful.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, treated contact like it was optional.
Strikeouts. Lazy fly balls. Pickoffs. A runner erased at second because why not.
At one point, the most exciting moment was a wild pitch that advanced Nate Eaton after he struck out. That tells you everything.
The Comedy of Errors (Without Errors)
Carlos Narváez singled. Immediately erased on a force play.
Andruw Monasterio singled. Immediately picked off.
Yoeilin Cespedes pinch-ran. Immediately picked off.
If this was a clinic on how to sabotage your own baserunners, Boston earns continuing education credit.
To their credit, the pitching staff kept it at 0–0. But you could feel the tension building.
All it would take was one swing.
The Ninth-Inning Tease
Finally. Movement.
Top of the ninth. Tie game. Someone please do something.
Max Ferguson singled. Immediately erased on a line-drive double play. Of course.
Then Mikey Romero snuck a single through. A balk moved him to second because baseball is weird. Enter Mickey Gasper.
Gasper ripped a triple to right. Romero scored.
1–0 Red Sox.
The dugout actually showed signs of life. There were high-fives. Smiles. A pulse.
Was it pretty? No. Did it count? Yes.
The Immediate Collapse
Bottom of the ninth. Protect a one-run lead. That’s it. Three outs.
Blake Sabol singled. Fine. One out. Still fine.
Then Logan Davidson doubled. Suddenly the tying run is 90 feet away and the winning run is in scoring position.
And then Jonny DeLuca lined a single to left.
Two runs scored.
Ballgame.
Just like that, 1–0 became 2–1 and the Rays walked it off while the Red Sox stared into the Florida sky wondering how they turned a pitcher’s duel into a blooper reel.
What Actually Went Right
The pitching for eight innings was sharp.
No defensive miscues.
Gasper delivered in a leverage spot.
Romero continues to look composed at the plate.
That’s about where the positivity ends.
What Didn’t
Six hits in nine innings.
Multiple runners erased on the bases.
Zero ability to string together quality at-bats.
Ninth-inning bullpen meltdown.
This wasn’t a game stolen by Tampa Bay brilliance. This was one gift-wrapped by Boston’s inability to capitalize earlier.
You score more than one run, you’re not sweating the ninth.
Final Thoughts
Yes, it’s spring training.
No, this doesn’t go in the standings.
But the themes matter. Sloppy baserunning. Lack of timely hitting. Inability to tack on.
You don’t want those habits creeping into March.
The Red Sox had this game in their pocket after Gasper’s triple.
And then they politely handed it back.
Spring baseball is about evaluation. Today’s evaluation?
The pitching is ahead of the bats.
The baserunning needs a GPS.
And closing innings still isn’t automatic.
On to the next one.