TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays got back Monday to some of what worked earlier this season, piecing together a well-pitched game (by six relievers) and scoring just enough runs in different ways to also get back to winning. The 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox was just their fourth over a 14-game span but also what they hope will be a return to their winning ways. With Ian Seymour and five ...

]Yandy Díaz (2) of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrates a solo home run against the Boston Red Sox in the top of the first inning at Tropicana Field on June 8, 2026, in St Petersburg, Florida.

Parker S. Freedman/Getty Images North America/TNS

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays got back Monday to some of what worked earlier this season, piecing together a well-pitched game (by six relievers) and scoring just enough runs in different ways to also get back to winning.

The 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox was just their fourth over a 14-game span but also what they hope will be a return to their winning ways.

With Ian Seymour and five others holding the Sox to one run, the Rays combined enough muscle and hustle to win.

That included a leadoff homer in the first by Yandy Diaz, an opposite-field RBI single in the fifth by slumping Jonathan Aranda and a Diaz sacrifice fly in the eighth to score Taylor Walls, who walked, stole second and went to third on an infield out.

After scoring three or fewer runs in eight of the losses, the Rays knew they had to get back to their previous methods.

Asked before the game what changes they could make, manager Kevin Cash said there was a simple solution:

“We just need to go out and score some early runs and play a little bit better baseball.”

They did that — well, scoring one run, anyway — when Diaz drove Sox starter Connelly Early’s first pitch into the left-field seats.

Then they wavered a bit. The Sox tied it on a leadoff homer in the third by Marcelo Mayer off Seymour, and the Rays failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the second (loading the bases with two outs) and third (two on and no outs).

But they flashed back to the small-ball style offense that worked so well when they ripped off a 22-4 streak that pushed them to the best record in the majors.

Veteran addition Austin Slater, a Monday call-up after a six-game stint at Triple A, led off the fifth with an infield single, then stole second as Junior Caminero struck out.

Slater went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out, opposite-field single by Aranda, who at that point was 2-for-his-last 24. That included striking out to end the first with Ryan Vilade on second and grounding into a double play with two on and no outs in the third.

The Rays announced after Sunday’s loss in Miami that Seymour would be the opener and had indicated, including in the team’s pregame notes, that Mason Englert would work bulk innings, filling the spot opened in the rotation with the weekend decision to bump struggling Steven Matz to the bullpen.

Cash on Monday afternoon foreshadowed a different plan, saying there was “no guarantee of that,” and that whenever Seymour was done “we’ll go from there, depending on the score.”

Seymour, a minor-league starter who has been working in relief all season, gave them four strong innings, allowing just the solo homer.

And from there, with the score tied 1-1, Cash went to Casey Legumina (for four outs), Cam Booser (three), Kevin Kelly (two), Garrett Cleavinger (three) and Bryan Baker (three).

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