Roman Anthony tallies two-run double for first hit as Red Sox beat Rays, 3-1

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Jun 10, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — Roman Anthony’s first big league game was a roller coaster. Having learned he was headed to Boston hours before first pitch on Monday, the top Red Sox prospect was thrown right into the fire with no time to prepare and the results were predictably uneven.

But with a night to process things and his family in the stands, Anthony was able to show just why he’s the top prospect in all of baseball.

Anthony stole the show in his second career MLB game on Tuesday, ripping a two-run double for his first career hit before flashing the leather with a brilliant sliding catch in right field. The rookie finished 1 for 4 with two RBIs, helping lead the Red Sox to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Boston also benefitted from a fantastic bounce back performance by starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, as well as a towering solo home run by shortstop Trevor Story, who is continuing to trend up after a dreadful month of May.

Anthony broke the ice in the bottom of the first after Rafael Devers singled and Carlos Narvaez doubled to put two men in scoring position with two outs. The rookie fell behind 0-2 before laying off a change-up in the dirt, and then when Rays starter Ryan Pepiot went to the change-up again, Anthony lined one down the left-field line to put the Red Sox on top.

From there Giolito gave the Red Sox the kind of outing they’ve desperately needed.

Two of the Red Sox biggest problems recently have been allowing too many first inning runs and the starting pitchers not going deep enough into games. The club had allowed at least one first inning run in seven of their prior 10 games entering Tuesday, but Giolito kept the Rays off the board and didn’t allow a run until the fifth.

That run came on an RBI single by Yandy Diaz, who scorched a line drive up the middle that Kristian Campbell nearly caught for an incredible leaping grab, only for the ball to barely pop out of his glove as he came down.

Giolito wound up going six innings, allowing three hits and one run (none earned) while walking three and striking out four. It marked the second consecutive night that a Boston starter has completed six innings, the first time the Red Sox have had back-to-back six-plus inning starts since May 10-11.

The Red Sox extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth when Story hit a 398-foot moonshot over the Green Monster, which came at the end of a nine-pitch battle with Pepiot. The Rays starter immediately came out after the homer, giving way to the bullpen after allowing three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.

Abraham Toro nearly blew the game open for Boston in the seventh with a deep fly ball that just missed getting out for a three-run home run, but even without capitalizing on the opportunity the Red Sox bullpen still took care of business. Garrett Whitlock came on and pitched two perfect innings of relief, and with closer Aroldis Chapman down after pitching in three consecutive days, Greg Weissert finished out the ninth for his first save of the season.