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BOSTON Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy held a brief team meeting before the All-Star break.
The message: Take the break to relax, but dont get too far away from baseball.
Theres more work to be done in a few days.
To that end, Tracy set up an optional team workout at Fenway Park on Thursday to ensure the group was ready for a four-game series against the American Leagues best team, beginning with a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Advertisement Nearly 90 percent of the team showed up to the Thursday workout.
A day later, their effort showed right away as they swept the Rays in a doubleheader with a resounding 10-0 win in the first game and a 5-3 victory in the second game.
To come out of the break, firing on all cylinders is fun to be a part of, Caleb Durbin said.
Bostons win streak now sits at a major-league-leading 11 games and marks Bostons longest streak since 2016.
(The Red Sox franchise record is 15 straight wins in 1946.) Meanwhile, theyve finally clawed back to a .500 record (48-48) for the first time since the second game of the season on March 28.
Most importantly, theyre now tied for the third AL wild-card spot.
It means a lot, Tracy said.
Ive talked a lot about the journey its been and how rough things were.
But the guys have come together, and theyre playing great baseball.
And Ill reiterate it: Its not time to look at the standings its nice, but theres a long way to go.
Right now, our mindset should be (that) we face (the Rays) tomorrow.
Lets figure out how we can win a game tomorrow.
But, I definitely want to applaud the work that theyve done in the last two and a half weeks to get in this position.
During their dominance over the past few weeks, beginning with a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees at the end of June, the Red Sox have been led by a scrappy group of players on the field, timely home runs from their core hitters, heads-up small ball, a lockdown bullpen and a rotation thats been among the best in the majors.
In the first game on Friday, Jake Bennett allowed one hit over six scoreless innings, needing just 65 pitches.
He surely would have continued if his team hadnt put up six runs in the bottom of the sixth, bloating the score to 9-0.
It built in extra rest for the rookie who never pitched above Double A entering this season.
Eduardo Rivera, starting the second game, didnt fare as well, tagged for three runs in 2 1/3 innings, but a fresh bullpen pieced together an impressive 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
Advertisement In past years, the Red Sox have limped out of the All-Star break despite surging before it.
This year seems different.
Though its been just two post-break games, Tracy wasnt worried about his team losing momentum entering the second half.
Despite winning nine straight heading into the break, the team had endured an exhausting three months.
(There was) the narrative (that) its a bad time for the break, Tracy said.
I dont know.
Regardless of what happens in the next handful of days, I dont necessarily agree with that.
I think that the last game in New York, we had to fight hard.
..
To me, guys were gassed, you could see it.
A manager change in late April.
A brutal stretch through May and most of June.
An emotional, fight-fueled series with the Washington Nationals to end the last home stand.
To top it off, the Red Sox finished the first half with a nine-game road trip with a trip to the West Coast sandwiched in between, only to face a massive travel disruption entering the final series in New York.
Through it all, they kept winning, but Tracy was confident the break would help, not hurt.
(Thursday) we had the workout, and pretty much every guy was here, so that tells you a lot where we are as a team, the mentality, said catcher Carlos Narvaez, who homered in Fridays first game.
Everybody was ready.
That was the whole message.
And I think everybody understood and received that message very well.
The 10-0 win to start the day proved that.
Even after falling behind 2-0 in the second game, there was no panic.
Ceddanne Rafaela doubled in the bottom of the first and Wilyer Abreu cranked a tying two-run homer.
In his first at-bat back from a five-game suspension, Willson Contreras picked up where he left off, slamming a go-ahead homer in the next at-bat, roaring toward his dugout as he ran to first and pumping his fists at the crowd as he crossed home plate.
After the Rays tied it again, Abreu hit his second homer to give the Red Sox the lead for good.
Wilyer Abreu goes yard AGAIN pic.twitter.com/khTy3bD3a0 MLB (@MLB) July 18, 2026 The winning streak feels amazing, Contreras said.
The energy here, the team is really, really great, and the atmosphere in Fenway is amazing.
So Im happy to be back for sure.
Advertisement In the first game, a six-run sixth inning set the tone for the day.
Jarren Durans two-run single with the bases loaded was followed by back-to-back bunts from Narvaez and Tsung-Che Cheng, plating two more runs.
There were bigger hits on the day, but the timeliness of those bunts spoke to the confidence with which the Red Sox are playing.
It just means were playing more complete offense over the last three weeks, Tracy said of the variety of ways in which they scored.
You got to be able to execute the little things to win games.
Obviously, you can have games where you drive the ball out of the ballpark, hit doubles and things like that.
You win games that way, but when you put them both together, you get what weve got going on right now.
Weve talked a lot about, too, if you do things the right way and play team ball and give it up for the team, its going to come back to you, Tracy added.
And were getting a lot of guys that have done that and theyre starting to get hot.
So its been good to see.
Against the backdrop of all this success are the looming returns of some key players.
Starter Ranger Suarez (groin) threw over the break and will do so again this weekend.
Hes eligible to be activated on Tuesday, but Tracy said theyll see how he comes out of this weekend to determine if hell be back Tuesday or need another day or two.
The goal is for him to avoid a rehab assignment.
There was more positive news on starter Connelly Early (elbow), who threw at 75 feet and is scheduled for 90 feet on Saturday.
Theyll continue to monitor how he feels as he increases intensity and length.
Infielders Marcelo Mayer and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are dealing with stress fractures in their forearms and have been doing some baseball activities but not yet swinging.
They have follow-up X-rays and an appointment with a specialist early next week to get an update on how the fractures are healing to determine next steps.
Meanwhile, shortstop Trevor Story has reached the eight-week mark since surgery for a sports hernia and is hitting and beginning baseball activities, getting closer to a rehab assignment.
Roman Anthony (sprained finger) and Garrett Crochet (shoulder) continue to progress slowly.
Nevertheless, at some point, these players will return; weaving them back into the mix will be a delicate task for Tracy as he tries to keep the current rhythm alive.
But thats a future issue.
At present, the Red Sox are rolling.
Yet they know they cannot let up now.
To be honest with you, the conversation has remained, regardless of who were playing, where were playing, whether were at home or away, it doesnt matter: Dont even look at the standings, Tracy said.
We have to play good baseball.
We have to win games.
Theres 66 games left.
If we continue to play baseball the way were playing it, well be where we want to be.