Kevin Kiermaier ended Tampa Bay’s 10th inning with a three-run homer late in the game, and the Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Saturday night after clinching their bid for a combined no-hitter in the top half of the last lost frames.
Matt Wisler (1-0) gave up Boston’s first as Bobby Dalbec opened the 10th with a three-pointer and gave automatic runner Jackie Bradley Jr. a 1-0 lead. Christian Vázquez followed with a sacrifice fly to the left.
Major League Baseball rules state that it does not count as a no-hitter until the game ends and one team finishes without a hit.
“You don’t want to see that fizzle out,” said Kiermaier. “You threw great. Both sides did it. This is about the best pitcher duel you can get, any team with six or seven arms. But that’s 2022 for you. Nothing is normal anymore.”
Hansel Robles (1-1) then came on for Boston, beating the first two Tampa Bay batters in the bottom half. But automatic runner Randy Arozarena advanced on a beam and scored when Taylor Walls met a throwing error from second baseman Trevor Story.
After Walls finished second, Kiermaier drove Robles’ 3-1 run deep right for his first homer of the season.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, this is the first time in baseball history that a team has lost a no-hit bid in extra innings and then won in walk-off fashion. Two other teams won a game in which their no-hit bid was resolved in extra innings, but they were the road team both times: in the 1995 Montreal Expos against the San Diego Padres and in the 1904 Chicago Cubs against the New York Giants .
Boston ended with two hits. Tampa Bay had three.
“It’s a dream of mine. I wanted to hit a walk-off homer. I’ve never made it,” said Kiermaier, who hit .125 when he came up in the 10th. “I will never forget that moment, that day. I needed this so badly after my struggles in preseason. Our team did it. What a win!”
Brandon Lowe’s leadoff double in the fourth ahead of Boston starter Garrett Whitlock was the only hit of the game ahead of Brett Phillips’ two-out single in the eighth ahead of Kutter Crawford. Mike Zunino followed up with a 400-foot flyball that was brought in by Kiké Hernández on the center wall.
Whitlock, who made 46 appearances for Boston last season, hit seven of four innings in his first major league start.
JP Feyereisen threw two perfect innings as Tampa Bay’s opener and knocked out two. Javy Guerra then got two outs before Jeffrey Springs put up two innings. Jason Adam had four outs, Ryan Thompson a seventh, and Andrew Kittredge eighth and ninth.
“It’s a challenge, but they’re all really good,” said Boston coach Will Venable. “We know our work is cut off for us when we play these guys. They have a lot of great pitchers that mix and match and do a lot of different things.”
The homer was Kiermaier’s first since August 16.
“I just hope HR gets me to click so I can contribute more aggressively,” he told me.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.