Red Sox reliever Garrett Richards celebrates with catcher Christian Vazquez after closing out the Tampa Bay Rays in the ninth inning Thursday night at St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris O’Meara/Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Eduardo Rodriguez pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 4-0 on Thursday night for a split of their four-game series with the AL East-leading Rays.

After dropping the first two games, Boston ended Tampa Bay’s nine-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night.

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Garrett Richards replaced Rodriguez (11-7) with two on and no outs in the seventh, and the right-hander escaped the jam with a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball.

Richards earned his second save, finishing a five-hitter.

Rays rookie Wander Franco extended his on-base streak to 33 games with a seventh-inning walk, but he left after the at-bat because of a headache. He was checked by a trainer after pointing toward his head several times earlier in the plate appearance.

Franco tied Hall of Famers Mel Ott and Arky Vaughan for the third-longest streak by a player under 21.

The Red Sox reported no new COVID-19 cases. Eight Boston players, including star shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and two coaches have either had a positive test or are considered close contacts since last Friday.

“It was a good day today,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said before the game. “Nothing to report. Guys are feeling OK, feeling better. Now we’ve just got to be patient.”

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Bobby Dalbec drove in two runs for Boston, which has a two-game lead over Oakland in the race for the second AL wild card.

Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (9-5) gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings. The rookie left-hander had won five straight starts. He allowed three runs or fewer in each of his previous 13 outings.

Boston opened a 2-0 lead on two-out RBI singles by Dalbec in the first and Hunter Renfroe in the second.

J.D. Martinez hit a run-scoring single before Dalbec connected on another two-out RBI single as Boston went up 4-0 in the fifth.

The Red Sox lead the majors with 284 runs scored with two outs. Dalbec has driven in 23 runs over his last 21 games.

NOTES: The Red Sox claimed infielder Taylor Motter off waivers from Colorado.

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