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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays became the first major league team since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers to open the season with 10 straight wins, getting a solo homer from Brandon Lowe in the eighth inning to defeat the Boston Red Sox 1-0 on Monday night.

Lowe homered for the third straight game, sending a one-out pitch from Chris Martin (0-1) into the right-field stands. Lowe has nine RBIs over his past three games.

“Brandon had a really good at-bat,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Hung in there on some pitches, and then he got a fastball that he could get the barrel to. And we know that he can knock it out of the ballpark when he connects.”

The 1987 Brewers and the 1982 Atlanta Braves share the major league record for the best start to a season at 13-0.

“It’s great to come out on top,” Lowe said in his postgame, on-field interview. “Let’s keep it rolling.”

In a matchup of the American League’s top two scoring teams, pitching and defense prevailed. This was the Rays’ first win by fewer than four runs, and Tampa Bay fell one game short of the 1939 New York Yankees as the most recent team to win 10 consecutive games by four or more at any point in a season.

“This is the first night where it was kind of quiet offensively,” Cash said. “I kind of felt like, at any given moment, someone can knock one out of the ballpark.”

Tampa Bay opener Jalen Beeks allowed one hit over two innings, and Josh Fleming gave up one hit over the next four. After Garrett Cleavinger pitched a perfect seventh, Colin Poche (1-0) worked out of bases-loaded, two-out jam in the eighth by striking out Rafael Devers.

“I think overall it was a good baseball game,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “They pitched well. We pitched well. It was good defense. Obviously, we didn’t win. But as for the game, it was great.”

Pete Fairbanks completed the three-hitter and recorded his first save. The Rays have now posted three consecutive shutouts, after registering consecutive 11-0 wins over the Oakland Athletics to close out a weekend series.

“It just shows how unbelievable our pitchers really are,” Lowe said. “That was a fun game. It’s nice to leave with a win.”

Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta gave up three hits in five scoreless innings. Josh Winckowski allowed one hit in two innings.

In the previous two wins over the A’s, the Rays allowed just four hits overall.

Boston recorded a three-game weekend sweep over the Detroit Tigers in which the Red Sox outscored their hosts 24-9.

“Definitely felt like a Rays-Red Sox game,” Cash said, later referring to Major League Baseball’s new schedule in which teams play division rivals less frequently. “Look, they’re a good team. I’m thrilled that we’re not playing them 19 times.”

Cora said “there’s a good chance” right-hander Garrett Whitlock (hip surgery) will make his season debut Tuesday night against Rays ace Shane McClanahan (2-0).

“They’ve got good stuff; give them credit,” Cora said of the Rays’ pitching staff. “We’ve just got to get better for tomorrow.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sources: Yankees get 3B in Rockies’ McMahon

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Sources: Yankees get 3B in Rockies' McMahon

NEW YORK — The Yankees are acquiring third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Rockies in exchange for minor league pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

The Yankees will assume the remainder of 30-year-old McMahon’s contract, which includes approximately $4.5 million for the remainder of 2025 and $32 million over the next two seasons.

An All-Star last season, McMahon was batting .217 with 16 home runs and a .717 OPS in 100 games for Colorado in 2025. He hit home runs in the first two games after the All-Star break and another on Tuesday and is on pace to keep his four-year 20-homer streak alive.

While the production has resulted in a 92 OPS+, which suggests McMahon has been 8% worse than the average major league hitter this season, he still represents a significant offensive upgrade at third base for New York.

The Yankees have had Oswald Peraza, one of the worst hitters in the majors, manning third base nearly every day since the club decided to release DJ LeMahieu, another former Rockies player, earlier this month and move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base. Peraza, while a strong defender, is slashing .147/.208/.237 in 69 games this season. His 24 wRC+ ranks last among the 310 hitters with at least 160 plate appearances this season.

Defensively, McMahon is a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman whose four Outs Above Average is third in the majors this season. He joins a Yankees club that has been marred by sloppy defense, most recently on Wednesday when it committed four errors in a defensive meltdown against the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Herring, 22, has recorded a 1.71 ERA in 89⅓ innings across 16 starts between Low- and High-A this season. He was a sixth-round pick out of LSU in the 2024 draft.

Grosz, an 11th-round pick in 2023, had a 4.14 ERA in 87 innings over 16 games (15 starts) for High-A Hudson Valley this season.

With third base addressed, the Yankees will continue to seek to acquire pitchers to bolster both their rotation and bullpen.

MLB.com first reported on the Yankees trading for McMahon.

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Mets trade for reliever in Orioles left-hander Soto

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Mets trade for reliever in Orioles left-hander Soto

The Mets acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from the Orioles on Friday in exchange for two minor leaguers in what could be the first of multiple moves by New York to bolster its bullpen before the trade deadline Thursday.

The trade, which sent Class A right-hander Wellington Aracena and Double-A right-hander Cameron Foster to Baltimore, gives the Mets a hard-throwing left-hander to complement the club’s only lefty on the roster, Brooks Raley, who returned from Tommy John surgery last week.

Soto, who is 30 and was an All-Star with the Detroit Tigers in 2021 and 2022, has posted a 3.96 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate in 45 appearances this season. The Mets will be his fourth team since the 2022 season.

On Monday, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns plainly signaled that upgrading the bullpen for the stretch run is his top priority.

The need is clear. Injuries and overuse have depleted a relief corps that led the majors in bullpen ERA through May 31. Since June 1, the group has posted 4.52 ERA, good for 23rd in the majors.

Aracena, 20, is 1-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 17 games for St. Lucie. The Orioles said he is one of two pitchers in the minors this season to have thrown at least 60 innings without surrendering a home run.

Foster, 26, is 5-2 with two saves and a 2.97 ERA while pitching at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

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Fenway concession workers strike for Sox series

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Fenway concession workers strike for Sox series

BOSTON — Hundreds of Aramark workers at Fenway Park are on strike and planning to stay out for all of a homestand between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Friday night.

Concession workers had set a deadline of noon Friday for Aramark and Fenway Park to reach an agreement with the Local 26 chapter of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island hotel, casino, airport and food services workers union.

The union went on strike at noon asking for “living wages, guardrails on technology and R-E-S-P-E-C-T!”

With the Red Sox and Dodgers scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. EDT, union officials had a request for fans attending this homestand with food and beer workers on strike.

“We’re asking you to NOT buy concessions inside the ballpark,” Local 26 wrote on social media. “Tailgate before the games!”

Union workers walked the picket line wearing green T-shirts declaring “FENWAY WORKERS ON STRIKE.” They carried signs in the shape of a baseball proclaiming Local 26.

The Red Sox go out of town Monday with a game that night at Minnesota.

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