BOSTON — When the Rays acquired Isaac Paredes at end of spring training, they saw him as a young infielder with a promising offensive profile likely to be of some help in the future.
Paredes, in somewhat limited opportunities, has accelerated that timetable.
The two home runs he hit in Sunday’s sweep-averting 12-4 win over the Red Sox gave him a team-leading 18 for the season.
There was plenty of help on Sunday, as all nine batters in the Rays lineup had at least one hit, and everyone but catcher Christian Bethancourt either scored or drove in a run. Bethancourt, however, got to pitch the ninth inning.
The 12 runs were a season high for the Rays, and the 17 hits one shy of their most for a single game.
Randy Arozarena had three doubles (one off the team single-game record) and David Peralta two as the Rays rapped seven extra-base hits.
Starter Corey Kluber worked six solid innings, though he allowed three solo home runs, and the bullpen took it from there.
The win halted a two-game skid for the Rays and sent them on a happy flight to Miami, where Monday they will enjoy their first day off since Aug. 11, having gone 12-5 in the stretch of playing 17 straight days. They improved to 70-57 and maintained their hold on the top spot in the three-team American League wild-card field with 35 games to go.
The Rays acquired Paredes when they traded Austin Meadows to Detroit on April 5. In 81 games, he has hit .225 with 18 home runs and 40 RBIs.
At the time, they said the initial benefit of the deal was to open a spot in the outfield for prospect Josh Lowe, but that didn’t work out too well as he was sent back Triple-A after a tough first month. He was since called up and sent back down again. In 52 big-league games, he hit .221 with two homers and 13 RBIs.
The Rays also touted getting a competitive balance-round draft pick from Detroit, No. 71 overall, which they used on Illinois State outfielder Ryan Cermak.
Meadows, meanwhile, has been limited to 36 games so far with the the Tigers due to injury and illness, hitting .250 with no homers and 11 RBIs.
