Rays 7, Red Sox 3

 

Early got pulled after giving up three runs in four innings and suffered his first Major League lose. Wilyer Abreu returned to the lineup after a month on the Injured List, but went hitless. Sox batters got 10 hits but the team left 10 runners on base, three in scoring position. The bullpen stunk, giving up four runs over five innings. Boston lost, 7-3, and the Rays avoided a sweep. 

Fortunately, for once, the rest of the league gave us a break. Cleveland finally lost a game, but more importantly, Houston lost to Seattle, also by a score of 7-3, so the Red Sox' magic number is now 5 with six games remaining. 

Over the last 10 games, of the four teams in contention for the three AL Wild Card spots, Cleveland is 9-1, New York is 7-3, Houston is 5-5, and Boston is 4-6. Unless something changes, it's obvious where this is headed.  

The Red Sox are off today. Tomorrow, we start a three-game road trip in Toronto (90-66). The Jays have a two-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East and will likely play the Sox tough in order to preserve that lead. Giolito (10-4, 3.46) will take the mound against Kevin Gausman (10-10, 3.38).

Houston ends their season on a West Coast road trip but against the bottom of the AL West, starting with Oakland (73-83), who seem to play tough only against us, and then the Angels (70-86). 

We can still make the playoffs. That's all I've wanted from this year's team since the season began. Just make the playoffs, and I don't care if we win even a single game after that. Obviously, we're in if we win five of the remaining six games, but given the injuries and our recent performance, that doesn't seem very likely. OTOH, we're in if Houston goes 1-5 on the road, but that seems equally unlikely. 

Or we can split the difference - we're in if we go 3-3 this week and Houston also goes 3-3. If Houston goes 3-3, we can even make it if we go only 2-4. 

Five. That's what it will take. And in the event that the season ends in a tie between Boston and either Cleveland or Houston, or both, we have the tiebreaker against both to our advantage.