Red Sox lose in 11 to Rays in Roman Anthony's debut

BOSTON — When Roman Anthony stepped up to the plate for the first time as a big leaguer, he received a rousing standing ovation from a Fenway Park crowd that had been counting down the days to his arrival.

Over the next few hours those fans were treated to a glimpse of Anthony’s immense potential, but also a reminder that baseball’s top prospect is not yet a finished product.

Anthony went 0 for 4 with an RBI and a walk in his MLB debut on Monday, driving in a crucial run to help force extra innings in the Red Sox’s eventual 10-8 loss in 11 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The rookie also committed a costly error in the fifth that allowed a run to score, but reached base for the first time as part of a two-run seventh inning rally before coming through again with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the ninth.

After flying out to left field in his first at bat, Anthony nearly got his first career hit on a 111.2 mph line drive that went right off Rays pitcher Shane Baz’s backside but deflected straight to third baseman Junior Caminero, who fielded the ball and completed the play for an out.

A few minutes later Anthony suffered his first “welcome to the big leagues” moment when he allowed a hard hit single off the bat of Yandy Diaz to roll under his glove all the way to the right-field wall, a two-base error that allowed a run to score.

Anthony struck out looking his third time up in the sixth, and in the seventh he came to the plate with two outs and the tying run on base. Serenaded by chants of “Let’s go Roman!” the rookie worked a full count and drew a walk to continue the inning.

Finally in the bottom of the ninth, Anthony came up with the Red Sox trailing 7-5, one out and two men in scoring position. He lined one up the middle for a 6-3 putout, but Rafael Devers came in from third to cut the deficit to one.

Moments later fellow rookie Kristian Campbell tied the game with an infield single, sending the game to extras.

The Rays initially took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Jake Mangum, which came moments after the Red Sox turned one of the strangest double plays you’ll ever see. A pop fly by Caminero near home plate was dropped by Marcelo Mayer but immediately picked up by catcher Connor Wong, who threw to third to nail the lead runner before Trevor Story fired to second to get another out there.

The umpires later determined that Caminero should have been ruled out on an infield fly, resulting in the runner at third being safe but the man at second still being out. That proved consequential when Mangum singled immediately afterwards, breaking the ice for Tampa Bay.

Red Sox starter Brayan Bello was later victimized by some sloppy defense in the fifth. Brandon Lowe drove in a run on a single that Jarren Duran dropped in left field, and the next batter up Diaz hit his liner under Anthony’s glove, putting the Rays up 3-0.

Up to that point Boston’s bats hadn’t gotten anything going, but the offense began flickering to life as the night wore on.

Marcelo Mayer led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and Ceddanne Rafaela singled, putting two men in scoring position for Wong. Entering the day Wong had yet to record an RBI through his first 24 games of the season — making him the first Red Sox position player to do so since Norm Siebern in 1968, per Baseball Reference — and while Wong was able to drive in a run, he wasn’t credited with an RBI after grounding into a double play that scored Mayer from third.

Boston scored twice more to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Devers drew a walk and Abraham Toro and Kristian Campbell were each hit by pitches to load the bases, and Romy Gonzalez came on to pinch hit for Mayer and tied the game with a two-run double.

Bello, meanwhile, continued to show encouraging signs after a month-long string of inefficient starts. The right-hander completed six innings for the second straight outing and wound up pitching 6 1/3 innings with seven hits, four runs (three earned), four strikeouts, a walk and a hit batsman.

But the leadoff walk Bello allowed to start the seventh came back to bite him, and after leaving with one out for Brennan Bernardino, the left-hander allowed the go-ahead RBI double by Josh Lowe that put Tampa Bay back in front.

Bernardino then committed a pair of blunders to allow Lowe to score, first throwing a pickoff attempt into center field for an error and then firing in a wild pitch that brought Lowe in from third, and was pulled after giving up an RBI single to Jonathan Aranda that made it 6-3 Rays.

The Red Sox mounted a push in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the deficit to one on a run-scoring groundout by Abraham Toro and an RBI single up the middle by Trevor Story. Story then stole second to move into scoring position for Anthony, who drew a walk to reach base for the first time as a big leaguer, but Campbell struck out to end the inning.

Duran stranded the potential game-tying runner at second in the eighth, and in the ninth Tampa Bay extended its lead on a sacrifice fly by Aranda. But Boston had another answer in the bottom of the ninth, tying the game on Anthony’s RBI grounder and Campbell’s game-tying infield single.

According to the club, the 21-year-old Anthony is the youngest Red Sox player to record an RBI since Devers in 2017 when he was 20. He’s the youngest to record an RBI in his MLB debut since Luis Alvarado did so at 19 in 1968.

The two sides traded runs in the 10th. Tampa Bay pulled back in front on a Taylor Walls sacrifice fly, and in the bottom of the frame the Rays handed the ball to Ian Seymour, a Westborough, Mass., native who was making his MLB debut at his childhood ballpark. Seymour got two quick outs but saw the tying run come in after Aranda committed two errors at first on what would have been the final out of the game, allowing the ghost runner Rafaela to score.

But Tampa Bay scored twice in the top of the 11th on a bases loaded walk by Caminero and an infield single by Mangum, and Seymour was able to close it out for the Rays for his first career win.

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