TAMPA, Fla. (Interstat) — Trevor Story delivered a tiebreaking single in a three-run ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Saturday night to keep pace in a crowded American League playoff race.

The victory at George Steinbrenner Field was Boston’s eighth consecutive win over Tampa Bay. The Red Sox remained two games behind the New York Yankees for the top AL wild card and are a game ahead of Cleveland and Houston for the second of those three spots. The Rays have dropped four consecutive series.

With the game tied 3-3 in the ninth, Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela reached second base on a fielding error by Rays third baseman Junior Caminero. After Jarren Duran struck out, Story lined a single to right field off reliever Jesse Scholtens (0-1) to score Rafaela. Alex Bregman followed with a single, moving Story to third. Masataka Yoshida then drove in Story with a single to center, and Romy Gonzalez lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Bregman.

Garrett Whitlock (7-3) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief, and Aroldis Chapman secured his 31st save by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the ninth, striking out one.

The game was a pitchers’ duel for much of the night. Boston left-hander Kyle Harrison turned in a strong start, allowing one run and four hits over six innings while striking out five. His counterpart, Tampa Bay’s Adrian Houser, was nearly as effective, giving up three runs and five hits over six innings.

Boston built a 3-1 lead with single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings. The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the third when Duran scored on a wild pitch by Houser. They made it 2-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Bregman that scored Rafaela, and extended the lead to 3-1 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Nathaniel Lowe.

Tampa Bay chipped away, tying the game with two runs in the seventh. Jake Mangum, who went 3 for 4, got the Rays on the board with an RBI double in the fourth inning. In the seventh, Nick Fortes doubled to score Josh Lowe, and Yandy Díaz followed with a single to drive in Fortes.

The Rays threatened again in the eighth, putting a runner on, but Whitlock entered and induced an inning-ending groundout to preserve the tie and set the stage for Boston’s ninth-inning rally.

Boston improved to 85-70 with the win, while Tampa Bay fell to 75-80. The announced attendance was 10,046, and the game took 2 hours, 54 minutes.

The teams conclude their three-game series on Sunday. Boston continues its road trip with a three-game set in Toronto starting Tuesday, while Tampa Bay will host Baltimore for three games beginning Tuesday.