Red Sox keep rolling, sweep first-place Rays, match second-longest winning streak in club history

The Red Sox keep winning and in the process are making history along the way. 

Boston defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park to extend its winning streak to 13 games, matching the second-longest streak in franchise history. 

The Red Sox have now swept four consecutive series against the Angels, White Sox, Mets and Rays and improved to 50-48, marking the first time they’ve been two games over .500 this season.

“We beat a very good team four times,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “They’re a very good team. And we’ve beaten some other good teams, like the White Sox who have been playing very good baseball. That’s important that you’re feeling like you’re winning games against clubs that have the chance to be in the playoffs.”

The streak is Boston’s longest since July 1948, when Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky helped the club win 13 straight. The Red Sox now sit just two victories shy of tying the franchise record of 15 consecutive wins set during the 1946 season.

Sunday wasn’t Boston’s cleanest performance, but it was another example of how different this team looks from the one that struggled through the season’s first three months.

Sonny Gray never found his best command, yet repeatedly escaped trouble to earn his 12th victory of the season. The veteran right-hander allowed one run on five hits over six innings, walking four and striking out five while recording his ninth consecutive quality start dating back to May 30. He’s the first Red Sox starter to string together at least nine straight quality starts since Chris Sale in 2018.

Tampa Bay threatened throughout Gray’s outing but couldn’t capitalize, finishing 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranding seven baserunners.

The Rays grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on one of baseball’s rarest plays.

Victor Mesa Jr. lined a ball into the right-center field triangle that skipped away from center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, allowing Mesa to race around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. 

Mesa Jr. recorded the 25th inside-the-park home run in Tampa Bay history. It was the first since former outfielder Jake Mangum hit one last July versus the Athletics. He also has homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. The speedy outfielder is swinging a hot bat, hitting four home runs in his last eight games, dating back to July 8. 

Rafaela recovered in time to make what appeared to be a throw that would have retired Mesa, but catcher Connor Wong couldn’t handle the relay cleanly as the run scored. It was the first inside-the-park home run at Fenway Park since Jarren Duran accomplished the feat on Aug. 23, 2025.

Gray settled in and didn’t allow the inning to unravel from underneath him. After surrendering another single and a walk, he retired the next three hitters to keep the deficit at one.

Boston answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning.

Caleb Durbin reached before Andruw Monasterio continued his torrid doubles pace, driving an RBI double into the gap to tie the game. Monasterio now has 15 doubles this season, just three fewer than his 18 singles.

Monasterio has recorded an extra base-hit in four straight games, the second-longest streak of his career behind only a five-game streak last August when he was with the Brewers.

“It just feels like we can’t do anything wrong right now,” said Durbin following the game. “It feels good.”

The Red Sox took control an inning later without recording a hit of Shane McClanahan. 

Jahmai Jones opened the third with a walk before McClanahan hit Wilyer Abreu with a pitch and walked Willson Contreras to load the bases. Jones scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball before Durbin chopped a slow roller toward third. 

Junior Caminero elected to throw home but hit Abreu with the throw, allowing another run to score. Romy Gonzalez followed with a run-scoring groundout to cap a three-run inning.

It marked just the fifth time in the Expansion Era (since 1969) that the Red Sox scored three runs in an inning without collecting a hit and their first such inning since 2015.

McClanahan entered the afternoon with a 2.83 ERA but was charged with six runs, four earned, over five innings. He allowed just five hits but walked three, hit a batter and watched Boston take advantage of nearly every mistake. The southpaw snapped a 14 2/3 scoreless innings streak, the second-longest active in the Majors among starting pitchers.

Contreras provided the knockout blow in the fifth inning, putting the game completely out of reach. 

After already drawing a bases-loaded walk that helped spark the third-inning rally, the slugger crushed a 106.8 mph, 414-foot two-run home run into the center field bleachers, extending Boston’s lead to 6-1. It was Contreras’ 22nd home run of the season.

Contreras is tied for the MLB lead in games with multiple RBI (20) with the Yankees' Ben Rice. 

With a comfortable cushion, Gray finished his afternoon by inducing a 4-6-3 double play to end the sixth inning before turning the game over to the bullpen.

Just a month ago, Gray was searching for answers as to the team’s play, calling the Sox a bad team.

“We weren’t a good team, and that was a fact,” said Gray. “But we’ve always had it in us and we are a good team. At the same time, you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low in this game.”

The Sox’ bullpen of Greg Weissert, Jovani Moran, and Ryan Watson combined for three scoreless innings to finish off the victory.

Less than a month ago, on June 24, the Red Sox blew a late lead in a series loss to the Rockies and found themselves 15 1/2 games behind the Rays in the American League East. 

Since then, they’ve won 18 of their last 20 games and trimmed the division deficit to six games.

The Sox scored as many runs as they had hits on the afternoon (six). They were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left just five men on base. 

“I think that’s the big difference between early on and now,” said Durbin. “In those situations, you get guys in scoring position, (we would) strikeout or popup. That’s what the Rays were doing to us earlier in the year, that’s the type of baseball they play over there and it felt really good to do it to them and take advantage of their mistakes the way they did to us early on.

“It feels good that we were able to flip the script on the season, but obviously, against them as well.”

The Sox’ players are taking notice to the electricity in the ballpark, including the fans going “Tarps off.”

“The fans were electric for us this weekend,” said Gray. “I’m getting chills. It was special. People say you come to Boston and play in Boston and there’s nothing like winning in Boston. But the fans are a part of it. We appreciate the energy that they bring. We need it.”

Contreras added, “It’s great, especially for the fans. I don’t want them to start shouting, ‘Sell the team!’ I don’t like that. I take that personally. They’re passionate about it.”

What once appeared to be a lost season has suddenly become one of the best stories in baseball, and with a three-game series against the Orioles beginning Monday at Fenway Park, the Red Sox will have an opportunity to continue one of the hottest stretches in franchise history. Boston has split its first six meetings with Baltimore this season.

Probable pitchers:

Monday: RHP Shane Baz (4-9, 4.19 ERA) vs. LHP Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.11 ERA)

Tuesday: RHP Kyle Bradish (6-9, 3.61 ERA) vs. TBD (potentially LHP Ranger Suarez)

Wednesday: RHP Dean Kremer (1-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. LHP Jake Bennett (5-3, 2.35 ERA)