Red Sox 1, Rays 0

In baseball, a "Maddux" refers to a game where the pitcher goes the entire nine-inning game without allowing the opposing team to score and using fewer than 100 pitches. Today, the Red Sox' Garrett Crochet shut out the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1-0 win, their 9th straight win, going all nine innings in exactly 100. No relievers, which was a blessing after the team went six deep in the bullpen last night. Crochet gave up three hits, no runs, no walks, and nine strikeouts in his career-first complete game. 

The Sox' only run came in the fourth, when catcher Carlos Narváez singled to center, scoring Roman Anthony from second. Not much, but enough to win the game. Back on July 4th, when this current 9-0 streak began, I said the Sox had to work on those close, one- and two-run games, and after this game and the 5-4 and 4-3 wins in the previous two against the Rays, they've more than risen to my challenge.

Cora's 3-D chess game continued. He benched Bregman after only one game back from the DL - breaking him back in slowly - and DH'd Yoshida for the second game in a row. Roman Anthony played left field, Duran center, and Abreu right. Rafaela was moved from center to second and Mayer from second to third (Bregman was on third last night). It's anyone's guess what the field might look like tomorrow.

Can we sweep the Rays with a win tomorrow for the Sox' 10th straight and third consecutive sweep? If so, there'd be no better way to go into the All Star break than on a 10-0 streak. Tomorrow (1:35), Brayan Bello (5-3, 3.27) takes the mound against Ryan Pepoit (6-6, 3.32). Bello gave up 7 hits over 6 innings in his last start against the Rays, that 11-inning, 10-8, heartbreak loss on June 9 that I mentioned yesterday, so it's a chance for redemption. The day after that 10-8 loss, Pepoit struck out nine over five innings, so we have out work cut out for ourselves tomorrow, but we did win that June 10th game, 3-1, so there's that.