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Sox Call In the Ranger

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FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox have won 16 of their last 18 games and will get two-time All-Star southpaw Ranger Suarez back from the injured list to face the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

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Boston, which had a 15-game winning streak broken by the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, will try to win the three-game series against Toronto after being one-hit by All-Star right-hander Dylan Cease on Saturday in a 6-0 Blue Jays win.

Suarez (4-3, 3.15 ERA) has not pitched since he strained his groin July 5, the day he found out he was named to his second All-Star team.

The 30-year-old was scheduled to return last week, but his comeback was delayed because he was ill.

The Red Sox also were without left-hander Connelly Early the past few rotation turns but went 16-3 without Suarez and him.

Early, on the injured list since July 1 with elbow inflammation, was traded to the Washington Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead on Saturday night.

Early is 7-5 with a 3.44 ERA in 17 games (all starts) covering 91 2/3 innings this season, while Mead is batting .254 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs in 87 games.

“If you scripted that out before any of this happened and said, ‘This is going to happen — Suarez’s going to go down; Early’s going to go down — you’d be like, ‘That’s going to be the end of that (streak),’ ” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told MLB.com on Saturday before the trade was made. “But we’ve had guys that have stepped up. (Payton) Tolle’s been great all year. Jake Bennett came in and did great.”

Activating Suarez to pitch Sunday will allow rookie lefty Tolle to pitch Monday when the Red Sox open a series in West Sacramento, Calif., against the Athletics.

“When we talked about it (the rotation) … it’s like, first of all, if we can get Ranger the days he needs, but also sliding him behind (Patrick Sandoval) and (Sonny) Gray, not disrupting him,” Tracy said. “You get the other two guys (Tolle and Bennett) a little bit extra break, which is good for them, too.”

Suarez is 57-40 with a 3.35 ERA in 204 games, including 136 starts. He is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA in three appearances (two starts) against the Blue Jays in his career. Suarez has thrown 17 1/3 innings against Toronto and has allowed only one unearned run while striking out 17.

The Blue Jays will counter with Kevin Gausman (4-9, 4.51 ERA). They have lost seven straight games he has started, with the last win coming June 7 against the Orioles.

The right-hander has not recorded a win since beating the Pirates 6-2 on May 22. The 35-year-old is 116-122 with a 3.85 ERA in 382 career games (343 starts) and is 9-11 with a 4.25 ERA in 33 games against the Red Sox, including 28 starts.

The Red Sox are just glad they won’t see Cease for a while.

Andruw Monasterio managed the only hit for the Red Sox on Saturday, a double to lead off the sixth.

The All-Star Game starter, Cease was averaging 93 mph on his fastball early in the game, and struck out Wilyer Abreu with a 99 mph to end the ninth.

“It was a great pitch, no regrets,” Cease said of his pitch to Monasterio. “My body was a little cranky early, but it woke up as the game went on. At the end, you don’t want to let it go. I emptied the tank.”

Cease also acknowledged that Fenway Park is his favorite place to play. He is 2-0 with an 0.88 ERA there and has held hitters to a .194 batting average.

“When I play Nintendo 64, it is always here,” Cease said.

He isn’t the only Blue Jays player who loves Fenway.

George Springer, who hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run third inning Saturday, is a .320 hitter with 41 RBIs and 10 home runs in 50 career games in Boston.

–Field Level Media

 

Red Sox Trade Early

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – It won’t go down as the worst Boston trade of the summer of ’26, but it’s close. The Boston Red Sox are trading rookie left-hander and promising prospect Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead, according to multiple reports on Saturday night.

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The Red Sox reportedly are seeking help at shortstop ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline and were looking at Mead’s teammate, All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams. Boston’s Trevor Story, out since May 14, has played only 41 games because of a sports hernia.

Early, 24, hasn’t pitched since June 30, going on the injured list July 1 due to left elbow inflammation. The starting pitcher is expected to return in August.

Boston selected Early in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of the University of Virginia.

Early is 7-5 this season with a 3.44 ERA, 34 walks and 93 strikeouts in 91 2/3 innings over 17 starts. He appeared in four games (all starts) last season and went 1-2 with a 2.33 ERA over 19 1/3 innings.

Mead, a 25-year-old native of Australia, is batting .254 with a .352 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage after going 0-for-3 with two walks and one run after playing third base in Washington’s 5-3 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. He has 17 home runs and 48 RBIs in 87 games. Mead, who has played first, second and third base as well as designated hitter this season, is a career .244 hitter with 22 homers and 79 RBIs in 239 games for the Tampa Bay Rays (2023-25), Chicago White Sox (2025) and Nationals (2026).

He signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 and was traded to the Rays in November 2019 for left-hander Cristopher Sanchez, who was selected to his second All-Star Game this season.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox: The Streak is None

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Dylan Cease threw a one-hitter and George Springer hit a three-run home run as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-0 Saturday. Cease (7-5), who took a no-hitter into the ninth against the San Francisco Giants on July 8, only allowed four Red Sox hitters to reach base.

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The teams will play the rubber match of the series on Sunday. Boston is 11-2 in its last 13 games against the American League East and has won 16 of its last 18.

Cease was perfect until walking Caleb Durbin with two outs in the fifth and didn’t allow a hit through five innings. The complete game was the first for Toronto this season and the 12th in the majors. Seven of the complete games have been shutouts.

It was Cease’s fourth career complete game and his fourth career shutout. The right-hander walked three and struck out 12 on a career-high 120 pitches.

Boston starter Sonny Gray (12-2) gave up five runs on 10 hits in five innings. The right-hander didn’t walk anyone and struck out three on 75 pitches.

The Blue Jays took control in the third when they used six straight hits to score five runs with two outs. Nathan Lukes started the rally with a double into the left-field corner and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single to left. Kazuma Okamoto kept it going by singling off the glove of third baseman Durbin and Springer made the Red Sox pay by homering just over the Green Monster in left to make it 4-0.

Varsho continued the inning with a single to center and he scored when Ernie Clement doubled off the base of the left-field wall to go up 5-0.

Gray had been 10-0 since coming off the injured list in mid-May. This was his worst outing since giving up five earned runs in four innings in a 6-0 loss to Minnesota on April 14.

Cease, pitching on the second anniversary of his no-hitter for the Padres, didn’t give up a hit until Andruw Monasterio doubled to lead off the sixth.

Monasterio did not advance, however, as Cease induced Connor Wong to ground out, struck out Anthony Seigler and retired Ceddanne Rafaela with a pop out to shallow center.

–Field Level Media

 

The Streak is ONE

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FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – Romy Gonzalez’s pinch-hit RBI double sparked a two-run eighth inning, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 6-4 win over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.

The shot into the left-field corner brought Jarren Duran home from first base with the go-ahead run before Anthony Seigler capped his 4-for-5 day with a wall-ball double to plate another off Toronto reliever CJ Van Eyk (0-1).

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Seigler, who batted leadoff, scored two runs, drove in two more, hit a leadoff homer, and added two doubles while falling just a triple short of a cycle.

The Red Sox have won 16 of their last 17 games.

Garrett Whitlock (6-1) earned the victory in relief, and Aroldis Chapman recorded his 391st career save to take sole possession of ninth on the all-time list.

The Blue Jays clawed back from 4-0 down to tie the game. Starter Trey Yesavage struck out nine across four innings of three-run ball.

Kazuma Okamoto, who entered the night 0-for-22 since the All-Star break, went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer in the seventh. It was his 23rd, which moved him past Shohei Ohtani for the most by a Japanese rookie in a single MLB season.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho also had multi-hit games for Toronto.

After Patrick Sandoval danced out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, Seigler immediately staked the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead by depositing Yesavage’s fourth pitch into the right-field stands.

The Toronto righty’s frustrating outing continued two innings later, as he fanned the side in the second before allowing another home run in the third. Seigler knocked an opposite-field single before crossing the plate on Ceddanne Rafaela’s two-run shot just over the top of the Green Monster.

Yesavage retired six of the final seven batters he faced to keep it 3-0, but the offense could not take advantage of back-to-back innings with two aboard. In the fifth, Guerrero singled and Okamoto doubled to put two Blue Jays in scoring position with one out, but Tyron Guerrero relieved Sandoval and escaped the threat.

The Red Sox added to their lead when Masataka Yoshida scored on Andruw Monasterio’s sacrifice fly in the sixth. It could have been more, but Toronto left fielder Nathan Lukes gunned out Caleb Durbin trying to score from second on Connor Wong’s single to end the inning.

In the seventh, Okamoto brought Toronto right back into the game with one big swing, taking Greg Weissert deep to center field for a three-run shot. Ernie Clement (hit by pitch) and Guerrero (single) set the table.

After Jeff Hoffman’s bases-loaded escape in the seventh, the Blue Jays manufactured the tying run off Whitlock — the first he allowed in 13 appearances — in the eighth. Lukes hit a leadoff double to left and Varsho dunked a single into right, setting up pinch hitter Andres Gimenez’s sacrifice fly.

–Field Level Media

Streak Snapped; Time to Start Over

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – The saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.”

For the Boston Red Sox, that meant the end of a franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak. The quest for a new streak begins on Friday night as the Toronto Blue Jays enter for the start of a three-game weekend series.

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“All of us knew that it was going to end at some point. It just happened to end (on Wednesday),” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said after a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the second game of a doubleheader. “The big thing is if we continue to play baseball that way, regardless of how many wins in a row, we’re going to win a heck of a lot more than we lose.”

To say the least, it was a season-turning stretch for Tracy’s group, which went from 37-48 then to 52-49 now. Before Wednesday night, the Red Sox had not lost since July 1, and they were 20-2 since completing a four-game sweep of the archrival New York Yankees on June 28.

Before Tracy could even speak to his team at the end of the streak, veterans Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray took the lead in addressing the clubhouse, imparting a message that matched that of their skipper.

“We can beat anybody. That’s lesson No. 1,” Contreras said. “We are a good team in the battles. We are resilient and a team that sits together, winning or losing. … There’s nothing to be sad about. We have to be happy. We should be proud of what we did.”

The past few weeks have seen Contreras break out to the tune of a .381 average with 13 RBIs in 12 July games. The first baseman had three hits in the Wednesday twin bill, with the nightcap being Boston’s first game scoring fewer than two runs since June 30.

The Red Sox will give the ball on Friday to left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who remains in search of his first win in his third start since returning from a two-year absence following Tommy John surgery. Sandoval (0-0, 4.82 ERA) was touched for five runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Sandoval has faced the Blue Jays twice in his career, posting a 6.00 ERA and no decisions in nine innings.

The red-hot run has the Red Sox sitting in third place in the American League East, now six games ahead of the bottom-dwelling Blue Jays.

Toronto arrives in Boston having broken a four-game skid with a 3-1 Thursday afternoon win over first-place Tampa Bay. It was just the second victory for the Blue Jays in a nine-game span.

Shane Bieber dealt seven innings of one-run ball in his second consecutive strong start, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer both had two hits and an RBI.

“Today we played a complete game,” Springer said. “We pitched. We got guys on (the bases), over and in, and we caught the ball, so it was a good day for us, but it’s on to (Friday), and that’s against another extremely good team.”

Trey Yesavage (4-5, 3.78 ERA) will look to keep the Blue Jays on the right track. The 22-year-old right-hander took a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday despite logging a season-high nine strikeouts over six innings of three-run ball.

Yesavage, who made his major league debut last September, has gotten his first taste of the Red Sox this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two head-to-head starts, recording a home win on April 28 with 5 1/3 shutout innings before working 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball in a June 18 no-decision at Boston.

–Field Level Media

 

Red Sox Caught Streaking

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FENWAY (Wire Service Report) – A four-run first inning helped the visiting Baltimore Orioles earn a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday, ending Boston’s 15-game winning streak.

The winning streak was the longest in the majors since St. Louis won 17 in a row in 2021. Had Boston won, the Red Sox would have set a franchise record for consecutive victories. They tied the 1946 club’s record of 15 straight with a 6-3 win in Game 1. Boston had not lost since a 10-2 setback against the Washington Nationals on July 1.

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Kyle Bradish (7-9) pitched six innings to earn the win. He held the Red Sox to one run on four hits, struck out four and walked one. Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge and Tyler Wells each tossed a scoreless inning of relief for the Orioles, who won despite going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox were limited to five hits.

Boston starter Eduardo Rivera (0-1) was pulled with two outs in the first inning. He gave up four runs on three hits and walked two. Brayan Bello replaced Rivera and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Red Sox 6, Orioles 3 (Game 1)

Ceddanne Rafaela homered, Jarren Duran drove in three runs and Boston tied a franchise record for consecutive victories with 15 by beating visiting Baltimore in the first game of a split doubleheader.

Boston starter Jake Bennett (6-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his 23rd save of 2026 and 390th overall, tying him for ninth on the all-time list with former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

Dean Kremer (1-3) gave up six runs on eight hits in six innings. Rafaela, Caleb Durbin and Willson Contreras each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who never trailed.

 

 

Sox Tie Club Record of 15 Straight Wins

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FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – Ceddanne Rafaela homered, Jarren Duran drove in three runs and the Boston Red Sox tied a franchise record for consecutive victories with 15 by beating the visiting Baltimore Orioles 6-3 in the first game of a split doubleheader Wednesday.

The Red Sox, who also won 15 straight during the 1946 season, haven’t lost since a 10-2 home setback against the Washington Nationals on July 1.

Boston starter Jake Bennett (6-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and struck out five. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his 23rd save of 2026 and 390th overall, tying him for ninth on the all-time list with former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

Dean Kremer (1-3) gave up six runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Rafaela, Caleb Durbin and Willson Contreras each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who never trailed.

The Red Sox, who also won 15 straight during the 1946 season, haven’t lost since a 10-2 home setback against the Washington Nationals on July 1.

Boston starter Jake Bennett (6-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and struck out five. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his 23rd save of 2026 and 390th overall, tying him for ninth on the all-time list with former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

Dean Kremer (1-3) gave up six runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Rafaela, Caleb Durbin and Willson Contreras each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who never trailed.

Baltimore received a solo home run from Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who had three hits and two RBIs.

Durbin’s two-run single and a two-run triple from Duran handed Boston a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Baltimore made it 4-1 in the third, when Pete Alonso doubled and scored on Tyler O’Neill’s two-out double that Rafaela lost in the sun.

The Red Sox regained a four-run lead in the bottom of the third. Durbin scored on Duran’s sacrifice fly to make it a 5-1 contest.

Encarnacion-Strand’s home run came against Bennett in the fourth and cut Boston’s lead to 5-2. It was his second home run in as many games since being called up from Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday.

Rafaela’s home run, his ninth of the season, extended Boston’s edge to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth, but Encarnacion-Strand’s third hit of the game was an RBI single that drove in Coby Mayo and trimmed Boston’s advantage to 6-3 in the sixth.

–Field Level Media

14-Carat Gold for Red Sox

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By TERRY LYONS

FENWAY – The red hot Boston Red Sox defeated the orange hot Baltimore Orioles, 6-5, in a sloppy but exciting game before a sell-out crowd of 37,659 crazy fans (about 5,000 from the Charm City) on an absolutely gorgeous night at Fenway Park.

Boston came into the game, winners of a lucky 13 straight games. Baltimore travelled to Boston from Houston where they swept the Astros and had a season-high seven game winning streak of their own.

Something had to give.

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A partial final line score might tell the story as Baltimore scored five runs on 11 hits but committed four errors and left eight runners on base. Meanwhile, the Red Sox scored six runs on 10 hits, but committed no errors and left only four on base. The game was sloppy and it see-sawed back and forth all night long.

Baltimore went up 1-0 in the top of the first.

The Sox tied it at 1-1 with a Jarren Duran sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Willson Contreras who had a lead-off single.

Boston went up, 3-1, in the third, after Baltimore committed two errors and Ceddanne Rafaela scored on a Wilyer Abreu double to left.

Baltimore cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth with an unlikely Christian Encarnation-Strand home run. For a .200 hitter, (we’ll call him Smith) has recorded two home runs and recorded multiple hits in two of his last five major league games. Tonight, the Orioles third baseman as=went 2-for-3, with a run scored, a homer and two RBI. Not bad for a guy who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk last Thursday.

The Orioles took the baton and scored two runs in the top of the sixth, cracking four hits with Jeremiah Jackson and (Smith) providing the RBI singles which knocked Boston starter Payton Tolle out of the game after 5.2 IP, giving up eight hits and four runs while walking one and striking out nine Orioles. Back and forth it was, and Boston tied it at four-all in the bottom of the sixth. It went to 5-5 at the end of the seventh inning.

Ping pong, see-saw, back-and-forth – call it what you want.

The game changer was in the bottom of the eighth inning with Baltimore reliever Tyler Wells on the mound.

Wells struck out the first two batters he faced, sending hot hitting Willson Contreras and DH Masataka Yoshida packing.

Batter-up for Caleb Durbin, the guy who soaked in some coaching from his Waltham, Mass batting advisor and has hit safely in 30 of 43 games, coming into tonight. Durbin also stroked a .305 batting average since his advisor struck gold back on May 28th. His 19 extra base hits and 14 multi-hit games add to his magical turn-around mid-season, But, when Durbin walked to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, he was O’s-for-3 with two fly-outs to right and a ground-out to short.

Call it hitting safely in 31 of 44 games as Durbin took a 1-0, 90 mph cutter and parked it over the famed Green Monster and across to Landsdowne Street which abuts the left field wall. It was Durbin’s 10th home run of the season and it gave Boston a 6-5 lead with ace closer Aroldis Chapman entering the game from his right field bullpen briar patch. Chapman, the American League’s all-star closer last week in Philadelphia, took the mound with 21 saves under his belt and the title of Major League Baseball’s all-time strikeout leader among relievers (1,367).

The drama unfolded, of course, as every game at Fenway Park seems to create a high stress level, even thought the Red Sox have been winning and were coming off a four game sweep of the AL East division leading Tampa Bay Rays.

Here’s the way it went down:

Chapman walked the lead-off hitter, pinch hitter Colton Cowser. With a man on first, Chapman – facing the top of the order – proceeded to strike-out Baltimore’s Taylor Ward and slugger Pete Alonso.

Orioles shortstop, Gunnar Henderson, was next and he doubled to left, but Cowser could only advance as far as third base.

Second and third, two men out, Chapman pitching to right fielder Tyler O’Neill.

Who will be the star of the game?

Durbin?

Chapman?

Or, O’Neill?

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How about the least likely player to earn that game-winning star honor, Boston shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng who moved quickly to his right and grabbed a rocket line-drive off O’Neill’s bat to end the game on what would’ve surely been a two-run single, a 7-6 lead, and a blown save for Chapman.

Instead, Chapman earned his 22nd save of the season, Garrett Whitlock was credited with the win for his one inning of shut-out pitching in the eighth.

Baltimore’s Wells took the tough loss.

The Orioles’ winning streak ended at seven, while Boston’s incredible turn-around and winning streak continue to the tune of 14 wins in a row, dating back to July 3rd. In their last 21 games, Boston is 19-2. They’re a major league best of 22-5 (.815) in their last 27 games, dating back to June 19th.

Boston is now 51-48 (.515) and trail the division-leading Rays by only six games. On July 2, Boston was 37-48, 14.5 games back of Tampa and mired in last place in the division.  They’ve swept the LA Angels, the Chicago White Sox, the lowly New York Mets and four important games from Tampa. While July 20 is far to early to be scoreboard watching, the Red Sox are one game away from tying the franchise record of a 15-game winning streak (April 25-May 10, 1946).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orioles in Town to Test Hot Sox

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FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox started their 13-game win streak on the road before the MLB All-Star break, but home cooking has helped to fuel it.

After completing a four-game sweep of the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox look to keep the good times rolling when they welcome the Baltimore Orioles — who have won seven in a row themselves — into Boston for the start of a three-game series on Monday night.

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“I feel like we’ve flipped the script,” Boston third baseman Caleb Durbin said.

The current heater has Boston two games above the .500 mark for the first time since a win on Opening Day. Now the team is two games short of the club record of 15 straight set in 1946.

“You’re winning games against clubs that have a chance to be in the playoffs. That’s important,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “It’s important that we’re playing this way out of the All-Star break. It’s important that we’re doing it at home. All those things matter.”

Another thing that matters? The return of Willson Contreras.

Contreras’ two-run homer in the fifth inning on Sunday gave the Red Sox a 6-1 lead, which proved to be the final score, in support of another quality start from Sonny Gray. It was the first baseman’s second round-tripper in three games since returning from a suspension and his fourth in seven games since July 4.

The Red Sox hand the ball to Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.11 ERA) for his first start since the All-Star break after being limited to 3 2/3 innings last Sunday against the New York Mets in an effort to manage his workload. The 23-year-old was still effective, striking out seven and allowing just one run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Another thing that matters? The return of Willson Contreras.

Contreras’ two-run homer in the fifth inning on Sunday gave the Red Sox a 6-1 lead, which proved to be the final score, in support of another quality start from Sonny Gray. It was the first baseman’s second round-tripper in three games since returning from a suspension and his fourth in seven games since July 4.

The Red Sox hand the ball to Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.11 ERA) for his first start since the All-Star break after being limited to 3 2/3 innings last Sunday against the New York Mets in an effort to manage his workload. The 23-year-old was still effective, striking out seven and allowing just one run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Tolle has allowed just one run or fewer in three of his last four starts, while one of his three shutout performances this season came in his first career start against Baltimore on June 3, as he limited the Orioles to seven hits over six innings and struck out five.

Though the Orioles remain two games below .500 (49-51) on the season, they continued their winning ways with a 5-2 Sunday triumph and a three-game road sweep over the Houston Astros.

Baltimore managed just six hits, including a pair from Dylan Beavers, but seven walks and four hit batters helped set its offense in motion. Gunnar Henderson’s steal of home on a double steal also highlighted the effort.

“(Our offense just wants to) continue to put pressure on defenses,” Henderson said. “If you do that over the course of nine innings, you’re bound to break through.”

The Orioles did just that in the fifth, thanks to a two-run single by Leody Taveras.

As his team arrives in Boston, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz will be watching the status of catcher Samuel Basallo, who exited Sunday’s game with right shoulder discomfort during an at-bat in the second inning.

“It’s been a lingering thing, and obviously, he just aggravated it,” said Albernaz, who also noted that All-Star Adley Rutschman was experiencing left discomfort before the game.

Baltimore looks to continue its recent momentum with Shane Baz (4-9, 4.19) on the mound, searching for his first win since June 12. The righty has fanned nine batters in two of his five outings since then, including a 4 2/3-inning start last Sunday against the Kansas City Royals.

The rotation initially had Kyle Bradish scheduled to make the Monday start before he was pushed back a day. Bradish signed a five-year contract extension on Saturday, becoming the highest-paid pitcher in Orioles history.

Baz is 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA in six career starts against the Red Sox. He was a winner in Boston in that June 2 outing, pitching seven innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts.

–Field Level Media

A Baker’s Dozen

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FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – Boston’s starter Sonny Gray pitched six innings of one-run ball and Willson Contreras hit a two-run home run, leading the Red Sox to a 6-1 win and a four-game series sweep of the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Sox, who are now on a 13-game win streak, broke open the game with a three-run third inning before Contreras ripped his second homer in three games to round out the scoring in the fifth.

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Ceddanne Rafaela went 2-for-4 and scored a run for the Red Sox.

Gray (12-1) scattered one run on five hits — including a solo, inside-the-park home run by Victor Mesa Jr. — en route to his ninth straight quality start. The veteran right-hander has now allowed one run or fewer in five consecutive outings.

Gray threw just 49 of his 91 pitches for strikes, but the Rays went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position on the day. Chandler Simpson (2-for-4) was the lone Tampa Bay batter with multiple hits.

The Red Sox responded to Mesa’s inside-the-park job into the right-center-field triangle in the second by tying the game in the bottom half. After Caleb Durbin hit a leadoff single to left, stole second and took third on a throwing error, Andruw Monasterio doubled into the left field corner to make it a 1-1 game.

A three-run third off Tampa Bay starter Shane McClanahan (8-6) put the hosts in firm control. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out, and a passed ball brought Jahmai Jones home with the leading run. Durbin and Romy Gonzalez followed with an RBI fielder’s choice and groundout, respectively.

The big inning proved to be more than enough offense for Gray, who stranded two runners on base in each of the first three frames before dealing a 1-2-3 fourth and inducing an inning-ending double play in the sixth to conclude his outing.

The Red Sox added to their lead in the fifth, as Rafaela knocked a leadoff single up the middle before scoring on Contreras’ two-run homer to deep right-center field.

McClanahan left after five innings, having given up all six runs (four earned) on five hits. He walked three and fanned three.

Greg Weissert, Jovani Moran and Ryan Watson all pitched scoreless innings to clinch the win for Gray.

–Field Level Media