The Boston Red Sox are 48-48, even for the first time since March 28th—the second game of the entire season. They got there by sweeping a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-0 and 5-3, on a Friday afternoon and evening at Fenway Park. Jake Bennett went six innings and gave up one hit in the opener. The offense went bonkers enough to bring in a position player pitching (which feels illegal if you have a 27th man). Wilyer Abreu hit two homers in Game 2 against right-handed pitching, which has
been a problem all year. Willson Contreras went yabo in his first game back from suspension. The bullpen held a two-run lead for five frames. Aroldis Chapman closed it with a perfect ninth for his 20th save.
There are 66 games left. Nobody knows what that means yet. But this team has won eleven in a row and the conversation has changed.
GAME ONE: Red Sox 10, Rays 0
There are days where the starting pitcher is the whole story. Friday’s opener was one of them.
Jake Bennett went six innings and allowed one hit. One. Against a Rays lineup with Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz. He walked one, struck out three, hit a batter, and otherwise quietly dismantled them—65 pitches, none of the drama, all of the results. The offense did plenty of damage behind him, but Bennett’s afternoon set the tone for everything that followed.
The big frame on offense was the sixth. The Red Sox were already up 3-0 heading in, Griffin Jax having already suffered enough damage with Yoshida taking him deep in the fourth—yeah, the wheels came all the way off. And they came off in the most fitting way possible: the Red Sox beat the Rays at their own game. Before this, Jarren Duran brought home two runs with a bases-loaded single, chasing Jax from the game. Now, with runners on the corners, Carlos Narváez laid down a sacrifice bunt that forced a bad throw to first from catcher Nick Fortes, turning a routine sacrifice out into another opportunity for a run. Then Tsung-Che Cheng dropped one so perfectly up the third base line that nobody wanted to touch it. The Rays jawed about this being foul but it wasn’t. Just perfect small ball baseball. Two bunts, two problems for Tampa’s defense, six runs before the inning was done. Chris Roycroft inherited a mess and made it worse. Jarren Duran drove in three total on the day. Caleb Durbin went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. This was an all-team effort.
Then in the seventh, Carlos Narváez sealed it. His solo shot off Roycroft went 412 feet at 106.9 exit velocity. Soo wee, was that a spectacular shot.
Luis Gamboa handled the final three innings. He was the extra arm up for the doubleheader—going back down when it’s over—which meant Tracey could burn him freely without touching anyone else in the pen. Kind of like a coupon that expires at midnight. Bennett’s 65 pitches and Gamboa’s presence made the whole thing cleaner than it had any right to be. It worked out really well knowing there was a second game to be had.
Final: 10-0. Red Sox with 15 hits and no errors.
Studs
Jake Bennett (6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K)
One hit in six innings against the best record in the AL East. Bennett has been one of the more reliable arms in this rotation all year and this was his best outing of the season. The command was there, the Rays never got comfortable, and he handed things to Gamboa with a 10-0 lead and nothing to worry about. Exactly what a doubleheader opener needs to be. Over his last 5 starts—a 4-0 record, 0.82 ERA, 4 walks to 25 Ks, a .64 WHIP in 33 total frames. Kudos to Breslow on this, this was a shrewd pickup from the Nationals.
Carlos Narváez (3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R)
Three hits and a 412-foot shot in the seventh to close the scoring. Narváez is batting .203, which isn’t a number that makes you feel great, but the power is real—this was his third homer—and today he was right there from the first bunt to the last swing.
Masataka Yoshida (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 1 RBI, 3 R)
Three hits, three runs scored, a homer, and a double. The Macho Man was on base all afternoon and driving the offense. Frankly, he’s been one of the hottest players as of late. It so helps round this lineup out. How about coming within a triple of the cycle too?
Caleb Durbin (3-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 R)
On base all afternoon and scored twice to go with his three hits. What else can you say about one of the most changed players in baseball?
Duds
It’s a 10-0 win, so let’s keep this section brief.
Anthony Seigler (2-for-5, 0 RBI, GIDP)
Two hits, but grounded into a double play in a game that scored 10 runs. Fine afternoon overall—the GIDP earns the spot.
Wilyer Abreu (1-for-4, 0 RBI, 2 K)
Two strikeouts and an intentional walk. He’d fix this in Game 2.
Play of the Game
Narváez’s seventh-inning bomb. 412 feet, 106.9 exit velocity, dead pull to left. For a hitter who’s been grinding all year, that one had some feeling behind it.
GAME TWO: Red Sox 5, Rays 3
If Game 1 was about pitching and small ball, Game 2 was about a team that’s learned not to crumble.
Jarren Duran made a throwing error in the top of the first that let two Rays runs score on a Jonny DeLuca single. Rays 2, Red Sox 0 before Boston had even come to bat. This early 2026 version of the Red Sox might have absorbed that kind of start and gone quiet the rest of the night. This isn’t that team.
Wilyer Abreu stepped up and hit a two-run homer to right-center. Tied. Bam. Then Willson Contreras—in his first game back from suspension—hit one to left-center right behind him. Back-to-back. Bam. Bam. Sox lead. Fenway was RAUCOUS.
The Rays tied it in the third. Junior Caminero—who has been a nightmare for this team all series and one of the preeminent power hitters in all of baseball—hit his 29th homer of the season down the left field line to make it 3-3. The Sox responded yet again in the bottom half: Abreu, his second homer of the game, a solo shot to retake the lead at 4-3. He hit both against right-handed pitching, which matters because Abreu has genuinely struggled against righties this season. He didn’t look like it today.
Anthony Seigler added an RBI double in the fourth to make it 5-3, and that’s where the score stayed. Eduardo Rivera gave up all three Tampa runs in 2.1 innings, but the bullpen that took over was extraordinary: Weissert, Morán, Guerrero, Whitlock, Slaten, and Chapman combined for 6.2 scoreless innings. Chapman closed it with a perfect ninth—his 20th save—and the Red Sox had swept the doubleheader.
48-48. Eleven wins in a row. Back to .500 for the first time since the second game of the season.
Studs
Wilyer Abreu (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R)
Two home runs against right-handed pitching in a game that needed both of them. The first one tied it immediately and made Contreras’s back-to-back shot possible. The second came right after the Rays tied it in the third—Abreu responded before anyone had a chance to feel queasy about this. He’s been squaring the ball up differently over the last few weeks, which the Sox sorely need.
Willson Contreras (1-for-4, HR, 1 RBI, 3 K)
He’s back, and he homered in his first at-bat of his first game back from suspension. The three strikeouts are an afterthought. Bowser can’t do much wrong.
The Bullpen (6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K)
Weissert, Morán, Guerrero, Whitlock, Slaten, Chapman. Six pitchers, 6.2 scoreless innings after Rivera handed them a 5-3 lead that needed protecting. They protected it. Chapman’s 20th save closed it out.
Duds
Jarren Duran (0-for-4, 1 K, E)
The throwing error in the first put them behind before they had a chance to hit. The Sox answered immediately, so it didn’t cost them, but in a tighter game that’s a different conversation. Quiet at the plate too—the sac fly and three RBI from Game 1 feel like a long time ago with a batting average as low as his.
Eduardo Rivera (2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)
Responsible for all three Rays runs. The bullpen bailed him out completely. He’s not an opener but not a true deep starter? I don’t know what to make of it.
Play of the Game
Contreras and Abreu, back-to-back. Down 2-0 in the first inning, Abreu ties it with one swing, then Contreras takes the lead with the very next pitch. The whole game changed in about 90 seconds.
