ST. PETERSBURG -- Due to recent offensive struggles, manager Kevin Cash was looking for a way to spark the offense, ultimately deciding to start all nine lefty bats on the roster against Boston right-hander Andrew Triggs.\n\nHaving nine left-handed batters in the starting lineup was a first in modern Major League history, and it turned out to be just the right lineup, as the Rays recorded 12 hits in the 11-1 win over the Red Sox on Friday at Tropicana Field.\n\n• Box score\n\nThe 11 runs were the most scored by the Rays since scoring 12 against the Marlins on Aug. 30. With the win and the Blue Jays' 18-1 loss to the Mets, the Rays hold a 4.5-game lead in the American League East with 15 games left in the regular season.\n\n“A lot of people contributed,” said Cash. “Just a lot of good at-bats, so that was encouraging and something that hopefully we can continue to build off of.”\n\nStarting the nine lefties in the lineup provided plenty of pregame talk on social media, but the reasoning behind it was simple for the Rays. Despite Triggs’ success against left-handers this season -- he came in to the start with lefties hitting 1-for-14 against him -- the Rays were confident that the Red Sox weren’t going to have Triggs on the mound for more than three innings.\n\nTriggs, however, exited the game after the first inning with a pinched nerve on his neck. The injury ended up forcing Boston to bring in Matt Hall, which ultimately ended up playing in Tampa Bay’s favor as heading into the appearance, lefties were hitting .391 against him.
\n\n“Everybody played a role,” Cash said. “Even the guys that didn’t get hits, they had good swings. We were picking each other up. We did little things to put ourselves in good counts and when those counts came, we were able to do some damage once the game got underway.”\n\nAfter Hall exited the game, the Red Sox used four relievers, all right-handed, which gave the Rays the matchups they wanted.