TAMPA, Fla. (Interstat) — Brandon Lowe hit his 30th home run of the season and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 Sunday night at George Steinbrenner Field to avoid a series sweep.

The Rays snapped an eight-game losing streak against their American League East rivals. Despite the loss, the Red Sox maintained their one-game lead in the race for the AL’s second wild card as Cleveland and Houston also lost Sunday.

Tampa Bay starter Joe Boyle set a dominant tone early, striking out nine Boston batters over 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed just one earned run on four hits, effectively working out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning by striking out Nathaniel Lowe.

The Rays offense struck immediately against Boston rookie left-hander Connelly Early. After loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first, Christopher Morel delivered a two-run double to left field. A subsequent fielding error by Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman allowed a third run to score, giving Tampa Bay an early 3-0 advantage.

Boston chipped away, scoring a single run in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Ceddanne Rafaela that plated Nathaniel Lowe. The Red Sox then tied the game in the seventh, pulling even at 3-3 on consecutive run-scoring singles from Bregman and Romy Gonzalez.

The tie was short-lived. Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Lowe connected on a solo shot to right field off Boston reliever Steven Matz, restoring the Rays’ lead at 4-3.

Tampa Bay broke the game open in the eighth inning, sending nine men to the plate and scoring three insurance runs. Morel delivered the decisive blow, a two-run single up the middle that scored Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero. Morel finished the night 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Nick Fortes followed with another single, and Brandon Lowe eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Mangum to cap the scoring at 7-3.

The Rays’ bullpen combination of Edwin Uceta, Garrett Cleavinger and Pete Fairbanks silenced the Boston offense over the final three innings. Uceta struck out two in a perfect seventh, Cleavinger earned the win with a strikeout in a perfect eighth, and Fairbanks closed out the ninth.

Early took the loss for Boston, allowing two earned runs on three hits over four innings of work. He walked three and struck out four. The Red Sox outhit the Rays 10-9 but stranded 10 baserunners, going 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The announced attendance was 10,046, and the game took 2 hours, 50 minutes to complete. The total score of 10 runs went under the pregame over/under line of 8.

With the result, the Rays improved to 76-80 on the season, while the Red Sox fell to 85-71. Boston travels to Toronto for a three-game series starting Tuesday, while Tampa Bay heads to Baltimore for a three-game set beginning the same day.