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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
Trailing 6-3 in the middle of the seventh inning, Fenway Park was still rumbling. Wilyer Abreu stepped to the plate with two runners on base and launched a Garrett Cleavinger pitch over the right-field fence. Two runs, Red Sox lead, and a stadium that erupted. Boston's twelfth consecutive victory was taking shape, capping a comeback no one saw coming two weeks ago.
A fiery seventh inning
Jonny DeLuca had hit a solo home run over the Green Monster to make it 6-3 in favor of the Rays in the top of the seventh.
Everything seemed to be going wrong for the home team, though. Jonny DeLuca had hit a solo home run over the Green Monster to make it 6-3 in favor of the Rays in the top of the seventh. Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval was making only his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. The left-hander gave up five runs over five innings of work, allowing Tampa Bay to take the lead on hits by Victor Mesa Jr. — who hit a two-run homer — and Yandy DÃaz.
But the Boston machine got back on track when it mattered most. Ceddanne Rafaela opened the seventh inning with an RBI double. Masataka Yoshida followed with a groundout that cut the deficit. Then Abreu, who had already homered solo in the third inning, delivered the decisive blow. Four runs in the inning, a 7-6 lead, and a bullpen that held strong behind Ryan Watson — his first career major league win for the young reliever — and Aroldis Chapman, who notched his 21st save of the season. In an area that was long a weak point for the team, Chapman confirms his role as closer with authority, while Watson will long remember his evening of July 18.
Tampa Bay starter Ian Seymour lasted only three innings, allowing three runs and two home runs. An outing that confirms the struggles of the left-hander, who was already roughed up in his previous start.
Abreu, the unexpected hero
Wilyer Abreu is living the best week of his young career. The 27-year-old Venezuelan had already hit two home runs Friday night in the second game of a doubleheader that Boston also won. In twenty-four hours, four long balls, and above all an ability to hit when the pressure is greatest.
His first home run of the night, a solo shot in the third inning, had kept the Red Sox within reach. The second, against Cleavinger, sealed the win and gave an entire stadium the conviction that this team is riding an extraordinary momentum. Jahmai Jones, called up to bolster the roster, also hit a two-run homer in the second inning, after Andruw Monasterio smartly challenged a questionable third strike that would have ended the inning.
Willson Contreras, back from a five-game suspension, also joined the party with a home run. At every level of the lineup, a different player steps up when the team needs it. Manager Alex Cora, whose contract was extended despite spring doubts, watches his group transform before his eyes.
From the cellar to the ceiling
Twelve days ago, the picture was bleak. Boston had 37 wins and 48 losses, a season that seemed already over before the All-Star break. Since then, nothing and no one has stopped Cora's men. Twelve games, twelve wins, a record back to 49-48. The Red Sox have a winning percentage above 50% for the first time since opening night.
Their last twelve-game winning streak dated back to June 2006, an era when David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez terrorized opposing pitchers. To find a longer streak in franchise history, you have to go back to 1948 and a run of thirteen straight wins. Boston has a date with that mark on Sunday, with Sonny Gray on the mound. The right-hander has an 11-1 record this season with a 2.54 ERA.
The Rays, leaders of the American League East, see their lead shrinking dangerously. Only two and a half games now separate the two teams. Shane McClanahan, with his 8-5 record, will try to stop Tampa Bay's slide and remind the Red Sox that nothing is ever guaranteed in the Major Leagues.