Red Sox 5, Rays 3

Another day, another trophy, but on this day there are even more rewards than usual. After the Boston Red Sox swept their Friday doubleheader against the Tampa Ray Rays last night, their first doubleheader of the season, they improved to 48-48, the first time they've been at .500 this season. Hooray! We're mediocre now! Which is a whole lot better than being below .500 and officially "bad."

The win was the 11th straight victory, a feat Boston hasn't accomplished since 2016, back when they had Big Papi, Mookie, Xander, and Pedroia, and pitchers Price, Porcello, Kimbrell, and Fighting Joe Kelly.    

But wait, there's more! The third-place Red Sox are now eight games back from first-place Tampa Bay and 5½ back from the Yankees, who lost last night. In the Wild Card standings, they're now tied with Minnesota for the third and final slot, but because of their head-to-head record (5-1 for the Twins), the berth goes to Minnesota. For now. 

I'm going to keep posting trophy pictures as long as they keep winning. It's not superstitious if it works. 

After soundly thumping the Twins, 10-0, in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, the Sox fell behind, 2-0, in the first inning of the second game. Game over, right? End of the streak and all that. But no, those gutsy Boston players struck right back in the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers by Abreu and Contreras (back from his suspension) to take a 3-2 lead. 

The Rays tied it up with a homer of their own in the third, but Abreu reclaimed the lead with his second homer of the night. 4-3, Boston. 

The Red Sox starting pitcher, Eduardo Rivera, only lasted 2⅓ innings (3 runs, 3 hits, 3 strikeouts), but the bullpen carried the game and not only shut out the Rays the rest of the game, but gave up only two hits over the last six innings. Siegler added an insurance run with a double in the 4th, and that was all the Red Sox needed to win their 11th straight.

With the win, the Sox secured at least a tie in the weekend series against the Rays, and a tie was all that I had asked for. Anything more (12 straight?) is pure gravy. 

This afternoon (4:10 pm), Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 2.08) will make his second start of the season. On July 9, in his first start since coming off a years-long stretch on the IL, he struck out five and gave up only one run in 4⅓ innings against the White Sox for the sixth win of this current hot streak.

The Rays will put Ian Seymour (6-2, 4.59) on the mound.  In his last start against Boston back on June 9, he had the exact same record as Sandoval's against Chicago - 5 K's and one run - in a 3-1 Red Sox loss. That loss sunk Boston to a dismal 27-38, eleven games below .500, and they would sink even lower after a loss in Tampa Bay the next day. Our darkest hour. 

But here we are, just a little over a month later, at .500 and holding a 2-0 lead in a four-game weekend series against the first-place Rays. Isn't life grand?