Drew Rasmussen treated the Boston Red Sox like a bunch of beer-league amateurs on Wednesday afternoon. Tropicana Field isn’t exactly a cathedral of baseball, but for seven innings, the Rays’ right-hander turned it into his personal torture chamber. Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu probably want to forget his name. They won’t. Rasmussen struck out each of Boston’s top three hitters three times. Yes, nine strikeouts just from the guys paid to set the table.
He was lethal. In the first and fourth innings, he made all three of them look foolish, sending them back to the dugout after empty, desperate swings. By the time his shift ended, Rasmussen had racked up 13 strikeouts. It was a career high. His previous best was 10, set back in 2022 against the Yankees. This was different. This was pure, unadulterated dominance. He surrendered just two hits over seven scoreless innings.
Then he left. Naturally, the bullpen tried to ruin it. That is what bullpens do. In the eighth, Cole Sulser served up a solo shot to Caleb Durbin. Then Steven Matz entered the game. He threw an 83-mph changeup that Rafaela promptly deposited into the left-field seats for a three-run blast. Suddenly, a comfortable lead shrank to 5-4. The sweep was in jeopardy.
The Rays needed a savior. Cedric Mullins stepped up. In the bottom of the eighth, he crushed a two-run homer to right, giving the bullpen some much-needed breathing room. Good thing, too. Durbin went deep again in the ninth, but it was too little, too late. The Rays escaped with a 7-5 win and a series sweep. Rasmussen got his win. He earned every bit of it.
