Betting

The Red Sox extended their winning streak to 11 consecutive games by sweeping Friday’s doubleheader against the division-leading Rays at Fenway Park. Contreras took Tampa Bay reliever Mason Englert deep in the opening frame of the nightcap affair, his first contest back following a five-game suspension for his on-field actions against the Nationals earlier this month. The 34-year-old has served as Boston’s primary offensive catalyst with 21 round-trippers through 89 games. He’s on pace to easily eclipse the 30-homer threshold for the first time in his career becoming the latest example of a veteran right-handed power hitting finding success immediately upon arrival at Fenway Park, much like J.D. Martinez did last decade.

Chaparro’s first homer was projected at 467 feet off José Suarez. He then hit a ball 406 feet off Yunior Tur two innings later. Those drove in five runs and his two singles accounted for three additional runs, giving Chaparro the eighth eight-RBI game in ExpoNats history. The previous two came in 2018, with Trea Turner knocking in eight runs on July 5 and Mark Reynolds driving in 10 two days later in the same series against the Marlins. Chaparro is now hitting .220/.352/.424 in 71 at-bats. He’d typically be on the bench Saturday against right-hander J.T. Ginn, but maybe the huge showing will get him a nod at DH at the expense of Dylan Crews or Jacob Young.

Ford had just four homers in 58 games in Triple-A this season, but it took him only three plate appearances to go deep for the Nationals. It’s his first major league homer, as he didn’t have any in his eight plate appearances for the Mariners in his cameo last season. Ford’s fantasy potential has taken a major hit with his stolen base ability vanishing — he had no steals in Triple-A this year after dropping from 35 in Double-A in 2024 to just seven for Tacoma in 2025 — but there’s still hope for him as a starting catcher for the Nationals. He’ll probably return to Triple-A once Drew Millas returns from the IL, but he’ll see a fair amount of action until then.

Jason Foley and Caleb Kilian finished up with hitless frames. Roupp recorded just two strikeouts and five whiffs on 44 swings, but aside from Luke Raley’s 400-foot flyout in the second, he gave up little loud contact. After going 0-7 between May and June, Roupp has opened July with consecutive wins, allowing just one run over 15 innings in the process. He has a favorable matchup in Kansas City next week.

It’s so easy to be bullish on Henderson. As usual, his changeup was lethal in this start, forcing five of his six total swings-and-misses and plenty of weak contact as well. His cutter was also great in terms of generating strikes and quality fastball command kept the whole thing rolling. The Marlins rarely challenged him and he was cruising before a visit from the trainers in the fifth inning. He’d finish that frame, but didn’t come out for the sixth despite being at just 73 pitches. After the game, he mentioned dealing with a forearm cramp and that the team felt it was best to play it safe. Keep an eye on his status ahead of his next scheduled start against the Mets at home.

Steer broke the game open as he tagged Jimmy Herget for a 404-foot (103.5-mph EV) two-run blast in the sixth inning that gave the Reds a 3-1 advantage. He then ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Jeff Criswell for a 421-foot (102.4-mph EV) solo shot in the eighth. For the season, the 28-year-old is now slashing .250/.330/.441 to go along with 16 homers and 40 RBI through his first 362 plate appearances.

On a quiet night for both offenses, Muncy’s homer was the difference in this game. He stepped up to the plate with the Dodgers down 1-0 in the seventh against Gerrit Cole and Mookie Betts on first base. It took a seven-pitch battle, but Cole eventually hung a slider and Muncy sent it a long way over the right field fence. That was his 18th home run of the season to go along with an .853 OPS in an excellent season so far for the left-handed slugger.

Abreu went deep off of Rays starter Mason Englert in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 2-2. Abreu would take Englert deep again in the third inning to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead after the Rays had briefly tied the game, pushing his home run total to 13 on the season. He’s hitting on .234 in the month of July, but Abreu is enjoying a bit of a power surge, as seven of his 11 hits on the month have gone for extra bases.

After suffering an injury scare in the MLB All-Star Game, Caminero was back in the Rays lineup in his return from the break, and wasted little time showing everyone there was nothing to be worried about. The righty deposited a pitch from Eduardo Rivera 407 feet onto the Green Monster to tie the game at 3-3, giving him his 29th homer of the season. Caminero tallied a hit in both games of Friday’s double header and appears to be good to go after Tuesday’s scare.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday where the conditions are expected to be much improved. Expect Friday’s scheduled starters — Gavin Williams and Jared Jones — to pitch at some point on Saturday.