ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — Despite going 3-for-5 with a double in his final game at Tropicana Field, all veteran David Ortiz could think about was his friend Jose Fernandez.
Fernandez, an All-Star pitcher for Miami Marlins, was found dead Sunday morning following a boating accident. He was 24.
Ortiz’s 10th-inning double helped the Boston Red Sox get the go-ahead run in a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Boston (92-64), which has won 11 in a row, completed the three-game sweep of the Rays to inch closer to an AL East title. The Red Sox are 5 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays.
“It is a very sad day,” Ortiz said. “Jose was such a fun kid to be around. A great kid. I feel for his family. His wife, who is pregnant, and his mother and his grandmother. Everyone loved being around him.”
The Rays had planned a retirement ceremony for Ortiz, but it was canceled at his request. In the second inning, the Rays played a video tribute to him on the jumbotron as the crowd of 26,443 gave him a long, standing ovation.
“It was very nice of them to do that for me,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz, who hit 35 home runs at Tropicana Field — the most by an opposing player — hit a double in the 10th inning off reliever Eddie Gamboa. Dustin Pedroia scored from first when Tampa Bay catcher Luke Maile dropped the ball after applying for the tag. Replay confirmed the call of an error by Maile.
“That was a crazy play,” Ortiz said. “I saw Dustin looked like he was dancing around the catcher.”
The replay showed Maile tagged Pedroia at least once before the ball eventually came out.
“It’s obviously a strange play,” Maile said. “I really don’t know the timing of when the ball left the mitt or anything.”
Tampa Bay (65-90) tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning with an RBI single by Brad Miller that scored Logan Forsythe. The Red Sox escaped further damage when Nick Franklin grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners.
Pedroia hit a solo home run in the top of the third off Rays starter Jake Odorizzi to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.
“(Pedroia) has been in the middle of everything during this run,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “He’s always doing the things we need to help this team win. I can’t say enough about him.”
Mookie Betts gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first inning off an RBI single that scored Xavier Bogaerts.
Rays right fielder Richie Shaffer tied the game in the bottom of the second inning off a sacrifice fly that scored Mikie Mahtook.
Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez had 13 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings in a no decision. The Rays struck out 11 consecutive times against Rodriguez and reliever Heath Hembree to set a major-league record. The Rays struck out 23 times to set a franchise record.
“The power that I saw coming from the mound today was amazing,” Farrell said. “(Rodriguez) and every guy who followed him, particularly Hembree and Kelly, were outstanding.”
Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly (4-0) pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to earn the win.
Odorizzi went three innings and gave up two runs on four hits. He threw 84 pitches in the outing.
“You could tell (Odorizzi) was kind of tilting, drifting forward,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He did everything he could to battle to keep us there and he did a good of that. The pitch count ran way up — 84 pitches through three innings is not ideal.”
On Saturday night, Pedroia hit a two-out, two-strike grand slam in the seventh inning, rallying the Red Sox to a 6-4 victory over the Rays.
Red Sox starter Rick Porcello (22-4) became the majors’ first 22-game winner, and Boston’s first since Pedro Martinez won 23 in 1999. The Red Sox are 24-8 in his starts, including wins in 16 of his last 19. He had lasted at least seven innings in 11 straight starts, a streak that ended Saturday when he left in the seventh.
Tampa Bay’s Logan Forsythe hit his 20th home run, a solo shot, with two outs in the ninth off closer Craig Kimbrel, who earned his 30th save. Kimbrel had held opponents hitless (0-for-20) over eight appearances.
Andriese left with a 3-2 lead after six innings, but reliever Ryan Garton gave up singles to Hanley Ramirez and Brock Holt to open the seventh. Dana Eveland issued a one-out walk to Jackie Bradley Jr., and the Rays turned to Danny Farquhar with the bases loaded and one out. Sandy Leon grounded into a force play at the plate for the second out, bringing Pedroia to the plate.
Pedroia got behind in the count, ripped a line drive just foul to left field, then had a chopper to third and would-be out that was just foul, keeping himself alive for his fourth career grand slam and 14th home run of the season.
Boston’s bullpen got out of a jam in the seventh. Curt Casali and Kevin Kiermaier singled with one out, but Brad Ziegler got Evan Longoria to line out to center field, and Robbie Ross Jr. retired Brad Miller on a liner to right.
The Rays got to Porcello for three runs on a two-out rally in the third inning, and that lead held up at 3-2 entering the sixth inning.
Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second, as Mookie Betts singled and scored on an RBI double by Holt off Andriese.
The Rays nearly tied the game in the second — Corey Dickerson singled and Nick Franklin doubled — but on Mikie Mahtook’s one-out grounder to second, Pedroia threw home and got Dickerson at the plate.
Tampa Bay jumped ahead 3-1 in the third as Casali and Kiermaier singled, then with two outs, scored on a two-run double by Miller. Miller then scored on an RBI single by Dickerson.
The Red Sox cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth as Betts walked, stole second for his 26th steal of the season, and scored on an RBI single by Ramirez.
Andriese held the Red Sox to two runs and four hits in six innings.
SUNDAY GAME NOTES: The Rays held a moment of silence for Fernandez, who played baseball at Alonso High School in Tampa after he and his family defected from Cuba. He led the Alonso Ravens to two Florida High School baseball state championships before being drafted in 2011 by the Marlins. … Rays 3B Evan Longoria and SP Chris Archer presented Ortiz with an oil painting of his 500th home run, which he hit at Tropicana Field. “I’m really humbled they gave me so many gifts,” Ortiz said. “I’m really going to miss competing against Longoria. And Archer has such a bright future ahead of him. … Rays CF Kevin Kiermaier was hit on the hand by an Eduardo Rodriguez fastball in the bottom of the third inning and left the game. He is considered day-to-day with a bruised left wrist. … The previous record for consecutive strikeouts was 10 by the San Diego Padres on April 22, 1970 against the New York Mets. Tom Seaver was responsible for all the strikeouts.