The good times keep rolling for Ceddanne Rafaela and the Red Sox, who officially go into the All-Star break as the hottest team in baseball.
Rafaela delivered the exclamation mark again in Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, following his go-ahead knock on Thursday and his walk-off home run on Friday with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth that capped off a three-run rally.
Trevor Story kicked that rally off with the go-ahead RBI single and Brayan Bello painted a gem, allowing one run over 6.1 innings to help complete the four-game sweep and give the Red Sox 10 straight wins heading into the break.
You have to go all the way back to July 2018 for the last time the Red Sox ripped off that many wins in a row, but while the All-Star break seemingly comes at an inopportune time, Rafaela said the club doesn’t plan on slowing down once play resumes on Friday.
“I think all of these guys deserve some days off to take some rest,” Rafaela said, “and when the break is done (we’ll) keep going, because now is not the time to stop.”
After bludgeoning teams offensively for the first week of the streak, the Red Sox operated with little room for error throughout the Rays series. Boston won each of the first three games by one run — a notable development given how the club had lost an MLB-high 19 one-run games prior — and Sunday was shaping up to be another razor thin affair until the Red Sox finally pulled ahead in the sixth.
It initially appeared as if the Rays would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Chandler Simpson singled, Jonathan Aranda was hit by a pitch and Yandy Diaz hit a fast-sinking line drive that Rafaela just barely missed on what would have been a sensational diving catch. But even though there were two outs, the speedy Simpson held up and waited to see if Rafaela would make the grab, and that hesitation proved crucial when the center fielder popped up and threw out Aranda at third base to end the inning.
Simpson, despite being arguably the fastest player in the sport, was not able to cross home plate before Alex Bregman made the tag on Aranda. As a result, what should have been a sure run didn’t count.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Their guy slowed down but for him to have the presence of mind to get the ball and throw the ball to third base, it was amazing.”
“When he hit it I saw it was a bit low, but in my mind I always can catch the ball,” Rafaela said. “I tried and it came off my glove, but I saw him going to third and I saw I had a chance so I tried to throw it as quickly as I could.”
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third under similarly zany circumstances. Marcelo Mayer hit a leadoff double, advanced to third and appeared to be picked off by Rays catcher Matt Thaiss. But Rays third baseman Junior Caminero was ruled to have obstructed Mayer’s path back to the bag, so the Red Sox rookie was awarded home.
Neither offense could do much for a while afterwards. Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot kept the Red Sox at bay through the fifth, and Bello limited the Rays to just a Josh Lowe sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, which tied the game at 1-1.
Then the Red Sox took control in the sixth and never looked back.
Roman Anthony started things off with a double high off the Green Monster, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Story’s RBI single. Story moved into scoring position himself with a stolen base, making him a perfect 16 for 16 on the season, and then Rafaela struck for his two-run shot, giving him 14 homers on the season.
Over his last 60 games dating back to May 7, essentially a full third of the season, Rafaela is now batting .301 with 12 homers, 33 RBI and a .906 OPS.
“He’s a pleasure to watch, he can do everything on the baseball field,” Story said of Rafaela. “He can run, he can hit, he can throw, it feels like he can play any position at an elite level.
“And his at bats are incredible, he’s coming up with really clutch hits and controlling the zone and doing his thing, and he’s made a lot of progress there,” he continued. “Like I tell him, he’s my favorite player, he’s my favorite player to watch and he’s just electric. He brings a lot to our team and he’s been on a heater.”
Bello came out after 105 pitches in the top of the seventh and finished with one run allowed over 6.1 innings with six hits, no walks and five strikeouts for his seventh quality start in eight outings. Bello walked off the mound to a standing ovation, and following the game Cora heaped praise on the third-year right-hander.
“The kid today, that was electric,” Cora said. “He’s grown so much in the last three years and now he’s striking people out, controlling the run game, it was good. It was good to see the ovation too. I told him hey be ready, enjoy, he didn’t want to come out of the game but we needed to there, but for the fans to give him that ovation, it means a lot.”
Justin Wilson recorded two quick outs to finish the seventh, Garrett Whitlock worked around a pair of singles to post a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman locked down his 17th save of the season with a perfect ninth.
Now Chapman will head to Atlanta to represent Boston at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, while the rest of the club gets a couple of days to rest before picking back up Friday at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. When the second half begins the Red Sox (53-45) will sit just one game back of the Yankees for the top spot in the AL Wild Card standings.
This is familiar territory for the Red Sox. Last year the club was 53-43 at the break before falling apart immediately afterwards, and the Red Sox also faded late in both 2022 and 2023, ultimately finishing below .500 while missing the playoffs in each of those seasons.
Can the club avoid a similar fate this year? Story is confident this year’s group is made of different stuff.
“To me that’s in the past,” Story said. “I think that’s been a big part of why we’ve been successful, we’re in the moment, we’re very present, not worried about what we did yesterday, we’ve got to show up today and win a game, and with that mindset it’s hard to live in the past or the future.
“That’s a big part of our team and our identity so I’m excited to start the second half,” he added, “but first, (we’ll) take a few days.”
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