ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Trevor Story homered in the sixth inning then scored the winning run on Jarren Duran’s single in the eighth as the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Story opened the eighth with a comebacker single off Drew Rasmussen (0-2). After stealing second and third, he scored when Duran grounded his hit to right past a drawn-in infield.

Justin Slaten (6-2) worked out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the seventh for the win and Kenley Jansen, the fifth Red Sox reliever, worked the ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Jansen was checked out after walking Austin Shenton on four pitches with two outs, but remained in the game. He also walked Taylor Walls but struck out Logan Driscoll on a 3-2 pitch to end it.

Boston had only one baserunner against Ryan Pepiot before Story tied it at 1 with a leadoff homer in the sixth.

Pepiot struck out a career-high 12 in six innings. He struck out the side on nine pitches in the fifth for the fourth immaculate inning in team history and the first since José Alvarado did it against Milwaukee on Aug, 4, 2017.

Pepiot allowed one run and two hits after being pulled in his previous start on Sept. 12 after two innings in a precautionary move because his velocity was down.

Rays left fielder Christopher Morel made a leaping catch at the wall to take away an extra-base hit from Triston Casas with two on and two out in the seventh.

Walls’ second-inning RBI single off Tanner Houck put the Rays up 1-0.

Houck gave up one run, four hits and struck out four over four innings in his first start since Sept. 4. The right-hander was on a pitch count after being slowed by right shoulder fatigue.

CHRIS MARTIN said last July that he plans to pitch for as long as a team wants him.

“I’m going to play for as long as they let me — as long as I can still do it,” Martin said.

Fourteen months later, he has a new perspective on his career.

“To be 100% honest, I think next year will be my last year,” Martin said.

Boston’s setup man, who turned 38 on June 2, plans to pitch in 2025 but he said he’s 95% sure that will be it for him. He is eligible for free agency after the 2024 season.

It’s been a difficult season for Martin. He dealt with an injured left shoulder (nonpitching arm) that affected his delivery during the first half. He spent time on the injured list in June because of anxiety. He then spent July 5-Aug. 7 on the injured list with right elbow inflammation.

All that might make anyone his age decide to retire after this season. But Martin realized he still had the itch for one more year when he was watching the Red Sox play in Los Angeles against the Dodgers after the All-Star break (July 19-21). Martin (dealing with his elbow injury) was at home watching.

“I saw the guys playing. They were in LA. I don’t know, I still had that like ‘man, I need to be there’ feeling. So I think I don’t want that to happen — retiring and then the season starts and I get the itch to play again, which is pretty normal.”

Martin said being home with his family also is important to him.

“We have a fourth (child) on the way,” Martin said. “Obviously I want to be there for them. And they’re getting to the ages where they’re starting to play sports. I’m getting older. Obviously 40 years old and playing baseball is going to be hard on me mentally and physically. I think that probably will be the cutoff. We’ll see. I don’t want to say 100%. I’d say 95% that next year will be my last year. I just want to be completely focused these last 11 days here and then if the opportunity comes next year — a team’s still gotta want me so we’ll see.”

There obviously still will be teams wanting to sign Martin who has continued to pitch at a high level this year. He has a 3.43 ERA, 2.79 FIP and 1.09 WHIP in 40 outings (39 ⅓ innings). He has averaged 10.5 strikeouts and just 0.5 walks per nine innings.

“Obviously I’ve been through the process a couple of times now with the same agency and they’ve done good for me,” Martin said. “I trust them and just kind of let them do their thing.”