Red Sox Sweep Rays 6-1, Stretch Win Streak to 13 as Gray Posts 9th Straight Quality Start

Q: Can Wilyer Abreu's historic power surge carry Boston through one of the league's toughest remaining schedules?

Probably not by himself, but Abreu’s surge can be a major reason Boston stays in the race. Abreu is on a real heater, not a fluke headline. He has four homers in two games, 15 on the season, a .266 average, a .794 career OPS, and strong quality-of-contact indicators, including a 12.8% barrel rate and 90.1 mph average exit velocity. He is also giving Boston value beyond the bat with high-end defense and baserunning, which matters over a difficult second half. Still, the evidence says Boston’s turnaround is bigger than one hitter. The Red Sox have won 12 straight because they are getting contributions across the roster, including Rafaela, Yoshida, Jones, a strong bullpen led by Chapman, and elite team defense that leads MLB in Defensive Runs Saved. Under interim manager Chad Tracy, they have gone from 10-17 to 49-48 and into the wild-card picture. That broader formula will matter because Boston’s remaining schedule is among the tougher ones in the AL wild-card chase. One estimate puts the Red Sox’s remaining strength of schedule at .501, around the 12th-hardest in MLB. That is manageable, but not something one hot bat usually carries alone. If Abreu keeps producing at this level, he can absolutely swing close games and help Boston survive the schedule. But for the Red Sox to hold a playoff spot, they will need the same mix that fueled this streak: run prevention, bullpen stability, lineup depth, and likely reinforcements from injured players or the trade deadline.

3 articles · Updated · MLB.com · Jul 19

Boston finished a four-game sweep of AL East-leading Tampa Bay with a 6-1 win Sunday, pushing its surge to 13 straight victories and an 18-2 run since late June.
Sonny Gray worked six innings of one-run ball despite four walks and five hits, turning in his ninth consecutive quality start after settling down following an early inside-the-park homer.
A three-run third inning broke a 1-1 tie without a hit, with Boston capitalizing on a passed ball and two Rays throwing mistakes on fielder's-choice grounders.
Willson Contreras added his 22nd homer — a 414-foot opposite-field shot — as the streak matched the 1948 club for the second-longest in franchise history, behind the 15-game mark from 1946.