Baz goes 7 strong innings, Siri homers and drives in 4 runs as Rays beat Red Sox 8-3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane Baz allowed two runs and two hits over seven innings, Jose Siri homered and drove in four runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Tuesday night.

Baz (3-3) struck out six and walked one, and set a team mark with his fifth consecutive start of giving up three hits or fewer over five-plus innings.

Siri hit one of Tampa Bay's three homers during a four-run fifth inning and extended the Rays lead to 8-3 with his three-run bloop double to left in the eighth.

Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe also homered for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Minnesota by six games for the final AL wild card, and would also have pass Boston, Seattle and Detroit.

“We're not dead," Baz said. “I don't think anybody in this locker room is acting like it. We're still playing hard, and we're going to continue to play hard.”

Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez homered for Boston, which is five back of the Twins with 11 games remaining.

“It's not a lack of effort,” Boston manger Alex Cora said. “It's not happening for us right now.”

After Caminero hit a fourth-inning solo homer, Josh Lowe and Siri homered during the fifth against Nick Pivetta (5-11) to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.

Caminero said he told Siri — who raised his batting average from .189 to .192 after going 2 for 4 — before the game he would go deep.

“I like how the vibe felt today,” Caminero said through a translator. “A lot of good energy among ourselves.”

Pivetta cramped up in the neck-shoulder area after striking out Logan Driscoll. Pivetta stayed in the game after being checked out and allowed Siri's 339-foot homer down the left-field line and Yandy Díaz's double that ended his night.

Cora expects Pivetta to make his next schedueld start.

Bailey Horn replaced Pivetta and gave up Brandon Lowe's two-run homer that made it 5-2.

Pivetta allowed four runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Casas had seven hits in his previous 49 at-bats before he put the Red Sox up 2-0 with his second-inning homer. Gonzalez hit a pinch-hit homer off Garrett Cleavinger leading of the eighth.

Kevin Kelly worked the ninth to extend his scoreless streak to 20 1/3 innings and complete a three-hitter.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: RHP Bryan Mata (right hamstring) will most likely not make his major-league this season.

Rays: Shane McClanahan (Tommy John surgery) will throw to hitters on Sept. 26. ... Caminero had a stinger on his hand during a seventh-inning at-bat and stayed in the game.

UP NEXT

Cora said RHP Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24 ERA) will make his first start since Sept. 4 on Wednesday night against Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.76 ERA). Houck has been slowed by right shoulder fatigue. Pepiot was pulled after two innings on Sept. 12 because his velocity was down.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jose Caballero forces Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu (52) at second base ande relays the throw to first in time to turn a double play on Triston Casas during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, left, celebrates with Yandy Diaz after Lowe hit a two-run home run off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Bailey Horn during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Diaz, left, celebrates after hitting a double off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Looking on is Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Siri celebrates after hitting a solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (37) grabs his shoulder after throwing a pitch to the Tampa Bay Rays during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Pivetta stayed in the game. Looking on is second baseman Ceddanne Rafaela. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe celebrates his solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe dives but can't get to a single by Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta reacts as Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero runs around the bases following his solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero, right, celebrates his solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta with third base coach Brady Williams during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Red Sox's Masataka Yoshida, of Japan, fouls off a pitch during the second inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Shane Baz pitches to the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Lamar Jackson was solid in Baltimore's biggest game of the season so far.

Then, after one of the star quarterback's rare slip-ups, one of his teammates delivered the play of the day.

Jackson threw three touchdown passes and Marlon Humphrey scored on a fourth-quarter interception return to help the Ravens pull even with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North with a 34-17 victory over the Steelers on Saturday.

Pittsburgh (10-5) would have clinched the division with a victory, but now the teams are deadlocked after the Ravens (10-5) won for just the second time in the last 10 games in this series. Baltimore clinched a playoff berth. The Steelers had already done so.

“It was cool to get a pick-6, but clinching a spot in the playoffs, to beat the Steelers, I'm just happy that the guys came in, put in the work, and we just took care of business,” Humphrey said. “I felt that this team has had our number over the years. Just take care of business, man. I felt like the performance we put on wasn't perfect, but I felt like that's what we were supposed to do.”

Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes, the second of which tied the game at 17 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Jackson answered with a 7-yard scoring strike to Mark Andrews, and after Pittsburgh turned the ball over on downs, a 44-yard run by Derrick Henry put the Ravens in the red zone.

That drive came to nothing when Jackson was intercepted for just the fourth time this season, but then Humphrey — who was celebrating the recent birth of his son Duke — picked off Wilson and went 37 yards to the end zone to give Baltimore a cushion in a series that’s been razor-thin of late. The previous nine games between the Steelers and Ravens were decided by seven points or fewer.

“My whole family's in town to help out with my wife and everything,” Humphrey said. “I was texting her before. I'm supposed to go pick her up from the hospital, discharge her with the baby. So there's a lot of just great things that happened this week.”

Jackson improved to 2-4 against Pittsburgh as a starter. This was his first time facing the Steelers at home since 2020.

“I feel like we've been busting our behind all season long, had ups and downs throughout this whole season, but to clinch a playoff against a great team like that, that's great,” Jackson said. “That means we're moving in the right direction.”

Henry rushed for 162 yards.

Pittsburgh entered the game with a plus-18 margin in turnovers, but the Ravens had the edge in that department Saturday. Baltimore recovered three of its own fumbles and had two big takeaways.

“We didn’t control the run game. We never did. When you don’t, you’ve got to do some splash plays or win the turnover battle in a significant way, and we didn’t do that either,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “There were some balls on the ground that we didn’t get. Then obviously we turned the ball over going in -- it took seven points off the board -- and they had a pick-6. The rest is history, as they say.”

Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 9-yard touchdown to open the scoring. Wilson answered with a 1-yard scoring pass to MyCole Pruitt, and the Steelers appeared poised to take the lead when the veteran quarterback broke loose for a 19-yard run in Baltimore territory.

But Ar'Darius Washington delivered a punishing hit on Wilson at the end of that play, jarring the ball loose. Kyle Van Noy recovered for the Ravens at the Baltimore 4.

The Ravens then drove 96 yards and took a 14-7 lead on Jackson's 14-yard touchdown toss to Rashod Bateman.

Wilson threw a 12-yard TD to Cordarrelle Patterson to tie it in the third.

Jackson set a team record with his 37th touchdown pass of the season, and he's now up to a career high of 3,787 yards.

Ravens receiver Zay Flowers had five catches for 100 yards, surpassing 1,000 on the season.

Henry has exceeded 1,500 yards rushing for the fourth time. He's now up to 1,636, a mark he's only surpassed once — in his 2,027-yard campaign of 2020.

Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. injured his calf, and WR Ben Skowronek hurt his hip. ... Baltimore RB Justice Hill left the game because of a concussion.

Both teams play on Christmas Day to wrap up stretches of three games in 11 days. Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City on Wednesday and Baltimore plays at Houston.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, left, gestures while scrambling against Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Broderick Washington during the first half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) celebrates with wide receiver Rashod Bateman (7) after scoring a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers reacts after making a catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry runs with the ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry busts a long run against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Cordarrelle Patterson (84) catches a touchdown pass as Baltimore Ravens linebacker Malik Harrison defends during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks to an official during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin looks on during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, and wide receiver Rashod Bateman (7) react after connecting for a touchdown pass and catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson throws a pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey (44) celebrates his pick-6 interception score with teammates during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, bottom right, hits the turf as Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, left, returns an interception for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)