Bogaerts' 3 Hits Back Wacha, Red Sox Beat Rays 4-3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Xander Bogaerts had three hits and scored twice in the first five innings Friday night and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3.
Wander Franco, Tampa Bay's 21-year-old shortstop, had the first multi-homer game of his career.
Michael Wacha (1-0) gave up two runs on three hits, including Franco's two homers, in five innings to get his first win for Boston.
Matt Barnes got Franco on a groundball for his first save after Jake Diekman walked the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth.
Trevor Story, Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo and Kiké Hernandez hit four of Corey Kluber's first 14 pitches for singles, spotting the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Kluber (0-1) gave up four runs on 11 hits in five innings.
Franco's homer made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first. Rafael Devers led off the third inning with his third homer of the season for Boston. Bogaerts followed with a double and scored on Hernandez's single to make it 4-1.
Franco homered leading off the fifth, and shortstop Bogaerts' second error of the game helped the Rays score another run in the seventh.
It was the second straight three-hit game for Bogaerts, who is hitting .385.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: J.D. Martinez was out of the lineup for a second straight game after leaving Wednesday's game in the third inning with left adductor tightness. ... Manager Alex Cora is not with the team after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Rays: C Francisco Mejía tested positive and was placed on the COVID-19 injured list. ... RHP Chris Mazza was placed on the 10-day IL with back spasms. ... C René Pinto and LHP Colin Poche were recalled from Triple-A Durham.
UP NEXT
Red Sox RHP Garrett Whitlock (1-0, 0.93 ERA), who has made 50 relief appearances for Boston over the last two seasons and earned a save on Tuesday, will get his first major league start Saturday night. The Rays will go with an opener.
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