Red Sox blank Mets behind Eduardo Rivera, bullpen; pull within half-game of last Wild Card

The Red Sox continue to play their best baseball of the season.

Boston blanked the Mets, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon for its eighth straight victory, continuing a remarkable turnaround that has the club firmly back in the American League Wild Card race.

With Ranger Suarez on the injured list, the Red Sox handed the ball to left-hander Eduardo Rivera for his first major league start. The 23-year-old delivered, allowing just one hit over 3 2/3 scoreless innings. The lone hit came on the final pitch of his outing.

In seven major league innings, Rivera has yet to allow a run while striking out six.

“He was awesome,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Wasn’t scared, attacked the zone, fastball had life, it was good, he landed breaking balls. He was excellent, everything you could ask for out of him.”

The offense came from Andruw Monasterio and Masataka Yoshida.

Monasterio broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, crushing his fifth home run of the season 378 feet to left field after Boston had managed just three hits against Mets starter Freddy Peralta. He later added a leadoff triple in the sixth.

Yoshida provided the insurance in the eighth, pulling a two-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole to double Boston’s lead.

The bullpen took care of the rest.

Rivera’s outing ended after a two-out single by Jorge Polanco in the fourth, prompting Tracy to turn to Greg Weissert, Jovani Morán, Justin Slaten and Danny Coulombe. The quartet combined for 5 1/3 scoreless innings to complete the shutout.

The biggest moment came in the seventh, when Morán and Slaten allowed the Mets to load the bases with two outs before Slaten froze A.J. Ewing on a called third strike to end the threat.