Red Sox 4, Rays 1

We did it!!! We ended the first half of the 2025 MLB season on a 10-0 run and with three consecutive series sweeps! It's Boston's first 10-game streak since July 2018.

Trevor Story got the game-winning hit, a sixth-inning RBI single to left center that scored Roman Anthony. Ceddanne Rafaela put an exclamation point on the inning in the next at-bat with a homer, his 14th, into deep left center, over the Green Monster and bouncing off a tabletop in the front row, scoring Story. Brayan Bello (6-3, 3.14) gets the win, going 6.1 innings with one run on six hits and five strikeouts. 

More Cora 3-D chess moves: with Bello pitching, Wong replaced Narváez as catcher, Bregman was back in the lineup at third, Mayer was moved from third to second, Rafaela from second to center, Duran from center to left, and Anthony from left to right. He benched Abreu, used Yoshida again as DH, and replaced Toro at first with González. Shortstop Story played shortstop, the sole player in the same position as yesterday.

The Red Sox, who had seemed all but dead a mere two weeks ago, closer to last than first place, are now 53-45, a mere one game back from the despicable New York Yankees and 3½ back from first-place Toronto. They're second in the Wild Card standings, 1½ ahead of Seattle.

The Red Sox are off for the next four days for the All-Star break, but then boy howdy will they run the gauntlet after that - nine games over ten days against the Cubs (57-39), the Phillies (54-41), and the Dodgers (57-39). That'll test their new-found swagger as much as anything.

So over the next couple summer days, lift a cold one in tribute to the Red Sox, the hottest team right now in Major League Baseball.