The Tampa Bay Rays called up Austin Slater from Triple-A Durham on Monday, and it didn’t take the veteran outfielder long to make an impact.
Slater scored what turned out to be the winning run in the fifth inning of Tampa Bay’s 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
He singled, stole second and broke a 1-1 tie when he scored on Jonathan Aranda’s two-out single in the fifth. Slater, 33, could get another start in left field on Tuesday night when the teams meet for the second contest of a three-game series.
“He’s been a good major league player for quite some time,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of Slater. “We’ve seen him in the other dugout, on the field against us. I think his skill set right now really fits us well. … (A) nice, veteran-bat approach to add to our lineup right now.”
The Rays signed Slater to a minor league deal on May 27 after he was designated for assignment by the New York Mets. He made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants in 2017.
The Rays are Slater’s eighth MLB team in the last three years.
“I think by the end of the year I’m going to know the whole league if I keep this pace up,” Slater said before Monday’s game. “But hopefully this is the last stop and I can help contribute to a playoff run and keep things rolling here.”
A lack of offense continues to hurt the Red Sox, who were held to four hits in Monday’s loss. Boston has failed to score more than two runs in four of its last six games and hasn’t had more than seven hits in any of its last four games.
Boston’s offensive highlight Monday was a solo home run by Marcelo Mayer in the third inning.
“We took some scattered good at-bats during the game but just didn’t create a lot of opportunities for ourselves,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “They used a lot of lefty (pitching) and some good ones, too. So, matched up the whole way, and you’re just hoping you can create something and maybe load the bases or something — put them in a spot where the lane doesn’t work for them after that, and we just weren’t able to do it.
“We’re trying to do things. We’re trying to run more, we’re trying to create more opportunities. But we’re pitching well still. We’re still putting ourselves in really good spots as far as being in the game late. We just got to take advantage.”
Left-hander Payton Tolle (3-2, 2.28 ERA) will start for Boston on Tuesday. He allowed three runs in five innings in a 4-1 loss to the Rays on May 10 and is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in two career games (one start) against them.
Right-hander Nick Martinez (5-2, 2.29) will be Tampa Bay’s starter on Tuesday. He picked up the win in that May 10 game vs. Boston, allowing one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Martinez is 2-3 with a 5.23 ERA in 10 career games (six starts) against the Red Sox.
–Field Level Media
