ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays are on quite a roll.

Price won his sixth start in a row, Evan Longoria hit a three-run double, and the Rays earned their eighth straight victory by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Friday night.

“A little bit of the swagger is back,” Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon said.

The Red Sox lost their fourth consecutive game.

Price (11-7) struck out 10 over eight innings. He tied the team record shared by Matt Moore and Scott Kazmir for victories in consecutive starts.

“Wonderful once again,” Maddon said.

Advertisement

This was Price’s first game against Boston since he hit David Ortiz with a fastball on May 30, setting off a verbal skirmish between the stars.

There was no trouble between them this time as Ortiz returned to the lineup one day after leaving a game because of back spasms.

“It’s feeling better,” Ortiz said. “After what we did last night and today when I got up and took some medication, it felt much better.”

Ortiz had words with plate umpire Bill Miller during an early strikeout, then hit an RBI single in a two-run sixth that gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead.

“It definitely felt good,” Price said of striking out Ortiz. “He’s a tough out always.”

Price has pitched at least eight innings in eight of his last nine starts.

Advertisement

Ben Zobrist’s fourth hit, an RBI single, made it 3-3 in the seventh. Later in the inning, Longoria delivered his go-ahead double off Junichi Tazawa (1-2).

“We’ve won some games and we’ve done some things that kind of remind us of what we’re capable of, but by no means are we where we want to be,” Longoria said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Jake McGee gave up a run in the ninth but got his 10th save.

Desmond Jennings hit a two-run homer in the fifth off Boston starter Jon Lester for a 2-1 lead.

Lester gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. He had allowed just one earned run over 31 innings in his previous four starts.

“We made David work pretty hard, but he was able to get a lot more early out counts than I was, and that’s why he was able to go a couple more innings,” Lester said.

Shane Victorino connected in the second for the 20th home run allowed this season by Price. Victorino also singled home Ortiz in the sixth.

NOTES: Zobrist had infield singles in each of his first three at-bats. … Boston catcher Ryan Lavarnway (wrist) was sent to Triple-A Pawtucket to continue his rehab assignment. … Tampa Bay plans to recall right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (elbow surgery) from Single-A Charlotte to make his second big league start of the season Saturday night.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.