Tampa Bay Rays win 12th straight, one shy of best major league start since 1900

The Tampa Bay Rays won their 12th straight game to start the season, one short of the major league record (since 1900), as Randy Arozarena hit a three-run homer in a 9-7 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

The 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves both opened 13-0, tying for the best mark in big league history. Tampa Bay’s 12-game winning streak matches the team record set in June 2004.

“It sounds amazing,” Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt said.

Tampa Bay can equal the record Thursday at home against the Red Sox, who have lost 12 road games in a row to the Rays.

Taj Bradley (1-0) won his major league debut for the Rays. The 22-year-old right-hander, recalled from Triple-A Durham when Zach Eflin went on the injured list, allowed three runs and struck out eight over five innings.

“Taj did a great job,” Bethancourt said. “I think he did amazing. I had fun. It was very enjoyable. He was everything I expected.”

Bradley’s victory came on his mother’s birthday.

Arozarena made it 3-0 with an opposite-field homer off Chris Sale (1-1) in the first. Tampa Bay leads the majors with 30 home runs and has outscored opponents 92-27.

Rafael Devers, who had been hitless in 10 at-bats with six strikeouts in the series, pulled Boston to 8-7 on a three-run homer off Colin Poche in the seventh.

Arozarena’s sacrifice fly made it 9-7 in the eighth.

Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly left in the fifth with right elbow pain. After throwing a pitch that hit Yandy Díaz, an emotional Kelly went into a squat on the mound and used his hands to cover his face.

“He’ll fly with us tomorrow, and we’ll do all the stuff, the imaging, all that in Boston,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It’s the elbow he had surgery (on) a few years ago.