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The Boston Red Sox Sunday, July 9, 2017 * The Boston Globe Red Sox bow to Rays Peter Abraham ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rick Porcello walked off the mound in the eighth inning on Saturday having pitched one of his best games of the season. But it was not enough. The Red Sox wasted the strong performance in a 1-0 loss against the Tampa Bay Rays before a crowd of 23,419 at Tropicana Field. With the Yankees beating the Brewers, the Sox had their lead in the division trimmed to 3½ games. The Red Sox face the Rays on Sunday afternoon before going into the All-Star break. David Price faces Chris Archer. The Sox are 6-3 on their road trip but have losses in three of the last four games. They had only three hits on Saturday. Porcello (4-11) allowed one run on six hits over eight innings. He struck out seven without a walk. He threw 80 of 111 pitches for strikes and was in command of the game throughout. It was one of the few times this season that Porcello pitched to the level he did in 2016 when he won the American League Cy Young Award. The Sox had two hits off Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb over 7⅔ innings. Down, 1-0, going into the ninth, they rallied against closer Alex Colome. Xander Bogaerts drew a one-out walk and went to second when Mitch Moreland doubled to right field. For the first time in the game, the Sox had runners in scoring position. Hanley Ramirez had a chance to heroics but struck out on four pitches. The Rays intentionally walked Andrew Benintendi to get to Chris Young. Young got ahead in the count 2 and 1 but popped up to shortstop to end the game. Xander Bogaerts was back in the lineup after missing all but one inning of the first two games of the series. He was hit in the right hand by a pitch in the first inning on Friday night but recovered quickly. “Xander was adamant about playing,” manager John Farrell said before the game. Bogaerts reached on an infield single in his first at-bat and that represented a significant chunk of the Red Sox offense over the first seven innings against Alex Cobb. Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the third inning before Dustin Pedroia grounded out. Mitch Moreland reached on an error with one out in the seventh inning. With the Rays in a shift, he grounded a ball into shallow right field. Second baseman Brad Miller was there but bobbled the ball. Cobb retired Hanley Ramirez on a popup to Miller. Andrew Benintendi then grounded out to Miller. Cobb walked Sandy Leon with one out in the eighth inning. After Tzu-Wei Lin lined out to right field, Rays manager Kevin Cash went to Colome to face Mookie Betts. With Cobb at 111 pitches, Cash wanted a fresh arm. It was the right move as Betts was retired on a fly ball to center field. Porcello put seven runners on in the first five innings but allowed one run. That came in the second inning. Steven Souza Jr. led off with a single and went to second when Miller second. Adeiny Hechavarria grounded to shortstop and the Red Sox turned a double play. Or at least they did until a replay challenge by the Rays resulted in Hechavarria being safe at first. Porcello hit Shane Peterson with a pitch to load the bases. A fly ball to center field by Sucre was deep enough for a sacrifice fly. Porcello was otherwise effective in what was his best start in two months. He struck out Logan Morrison with a runner on third to end the first inning. He then struck out Morrison in the fifth inning, again with a runner on third. Mallex Smith had a triple with two outs in the seventh inning. But Porcello got All-Star Corey Dickerson to ground to Bogaerts, who made a jump throw from the hole that Moreland dug out. Dave Dombrowski faces tough decisions ahead Nick Cafardo ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Dave Dombrowski will return home to Boston after Sunday’s game and watch his son play some baseball games while mulling tough moves he’ll need to make for the Red Sox roster. While Dombrowski spoke in generalities in his final meeting with the media before the All-Star break, he did say definitively that the Red Sox were not going to engage in the pitching market. Dombrowski cited the improvement in David Price and the return of Eduardo Rodriguez as reasons why he believes the Red Sox will be OK on the starting pitching front. There’s no doubt his pitching moves have paid off well with Chris Sale, Drew Pomeranz, and Craig Kimbrel playing huge roles in the team’s climb to first place in the AL East. He was also very aware the team has clicked with the current third base platoon of Tzu Wei-Lin — as threeTaiwanese TV crews peppered him with questions concerning Lin’s future with the Sox — and Deven Marrero. “You always have some of that thought on your mind when a club is clicking together and winning together, but there are decisions that you have to make and need to make,” said Dombrowski. “You always look at everything. The young guys who have come up, I tip my cap to them, they’ve done very well.” Dombrowski is preparing for upcoming decisions; Pablo Sandoval needs to return by July 16, ending his 20-day rehab assignment, and Brock Holt has to come off his rehab assignment four days after that. While he doesn’t have to break up the Lin/Marrero platoon right away (he can send Sam Travis down to Pawtucket when Sandoval is ready), he will have to deal with that when Holt returns. Another option would be to designate Sandoval for assignment, a subject Dombrowski would not address. Eating the remaining $50 million or so of Sandoval’s contract is above Dombrowski’s pay grade. He could recommend it, but that would have to be an ownership decision. Whether he’s already done that or not is anyone’s guess. But while Dombrowski heaps praise on Lin and Marrero, he also knows the facts of life concerning long-term contracts and what they mean to a roster. “The unfortunate part is that you reach the point where you have to make a decision because of time frames that are involved,” Dombrowski said. “You’ve got disabled list reinstatements that can’t be stretched, you’re forced to make a decision. These guys have done a tremendous job for us. They’ve played very well for us to this point, but you’re forced to make decisions based on time frames.” On the other hand Dombrowski warns of “taking things for granted” and not helping the team when the opportunity arises. There are plenty of ways to help your team — from acquiring a third baseman such as Martin Prado or Todd Frazier to dealing for a reliever such as Pat Neshek or Joaquin Benoit. Dombrowski reiterated that Lin and Marrero have “stabilized the position and provided some help for us, but you’re always cognizant of trying to help your club anyway you can. “I just don’t want to single that spot out, but I am a believer that if you’re going to do anything to help your club, you need to do it by the 31st of July because after that you don’t have control of your own destiny,” he said. “Sometimes guys get through waivers but we’re not at the top of that waiver claim process. If you’re going to do something you need to do it before that date.” Dombrowski is sensing that most teams “are waiting for the last week.” And he said it’s always tricky trying to identify what your team needs and whether you should do anything at all. “I’ve been in all situations at this point in my career,” Dombrowski said. “If you’re playing well that’s good. We’re second in batting average but not in runs scored, but we’ve been scoring more runs of late, we’re second in earned run average. Our defense, which wasn’t good early in the season, is very good lately. I read where we’re the first- or second-ranked team defensively in MLB since the middle of May.” The bullpen could be an area to improve. In a perfect world, Carson Smith would play a role, but there’s uncertainty about his return. Dombrowski cited the superb seasons of Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, and Kimbrel, plus the unexpected contribution of Blaine Boyer. He also said Doug Fister, who will get a start in next Sunday’s doubleheader against the Yankees, will then slip into the bullpen to give the Sox a long man. All things considered, Dombrowski is pleased by how things have unfolded in the first half. “I think we’ve come together as a club,” he said. “We’ve played much better the last six weeks. We put ourselves in position where we control our own destiny which is always a good thing. As we’ve gotten healthier and have a chance to get even healthier, our overall performance from pitching to offense to defense, has gotten better.” Dombrowski was also asked about evaluating John Farrell’s performance and politely indicated “I’m not in a position to evaluate a manager publicly.” But he did offer that Farrell has done a good job with the team, has brought along young players, and has worked well with the front office.

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