Relievers shine on Red Sox's unplanned 'pen day

BOSTON -- When the Red Sox announced Sunday that Michael Wacha would be unable to make his scheduled start against the Rays on Monday due to a “dead arm,” Independence Day became a bullpen day for Boston. And the arms called to action were plenty alive.

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Behind the efforts of Austin Davis, ?Kutter Crawford? and ?John Schreiber?, the Red Sox shut out the Rays, 4-0, in the opener of a three-game set against their American League East rivals. That put two games between the teams in the AL Wild Card race.

“Great job by the pitching department,” manager Alex Cora said. “Starting with AD, he had good stuff. He hadn’t pitched in a while.”

Davis was pressed into action as the opener for his second career start, with a two- to three-inning limit in his first outing since June 27.

The southpaw retired the side in order in the first inning and highlighted his two frames with inning-ended strikeouts. After 30 pitches, his day was done with only one walk allowed, setting the tone.

Crawford, who was called up from Triple-A Worcester prior to the game, was next. All the rookie right-hander did was set career highs in innings (5 1/3) and strikeouts (eight) while allowing just two hits and one walk.

“I had pretty good command of all five of my pitches,” Crawford said. “Last couple of outings, I figured something out mechanically that’s helped with that. Command of the baseball with all five pitches in the zone is one of my keys to success.”

“Kutter gave us a lot, helped us out in the 'pen,” said second baseman Trevor Story, who provided some Boston pop on the holiday with a fourth-inning homer. “He looked great, was attacking, great pace, fun to play behind.”

Crawford threw 83 pitches (60 strikes), and faced the minimum in the fifth, sixth and seventh. He also became the first Red Sox reliever since Casey Fossum struck out nine in seven innings on July 24, 2003, to toss more than five innings with eight or more strikeouts.

“Kutter, he makes all his pitches,” said Cora. “It was impressive. Good breaking balls, good cutter, good changeup, and the fastball played. He was under control until the last hitter. It was really good to see.”

While Crawford was dealing, so, too, were the Rays’ pitchers. But with two outs in the fourth, Story took a 1-0 offering from Josh Fleming and deposited it a Statcast-projected 408 feet into the Red Sox's bullpen for his 13th home run of the season and a 1-0 lead. Boston added a run in the fifth and two insurance runs in the eighth.

“Good swing. He didn’t miss that one,” Cora said of the home run. “That’s a big one for us.”

“They always feel good, but more special at home for sure, in front of our fans at Fenway,” said Story.

Schreiber came on with one out in the eighth inning and continued to do what he has done all year -- shut down the opponent.

He retired all five batters he faced, needing just 17 pitches (13 strikes) to earn his third save of the season and improve his ERA to 0.66 in 27 1/3 innings.

“I’m just trying to go out there and do my job the best I can,” said Schreiber.

The Red Sox, who are in second place in the AL East, began a stretch of 14 games against division rivals Tampa Bay and New York leading up to the All-Star break, which begins July 18.

In getting off on the right foot, the club gained confidence.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Schreiber. “We know we have a good couple of weeks here with Tampa Bay and New York, so it was a good first win against those guys. We’ll try to keep it going.”