Red Sox Week in Review: Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

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Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot

Record Last Week: 4-2

Runs Scored Last Week: 26

Runs Surrendered Last Week: 19

Standings:

5th in AL East

9.5 GB First Place

Transactions:

05/06/26: Red Sox optioned LHP Alec Gamboa to Worcester Red Sox.

05/06/26: Red Sox activated RHP Sonny Gray from the 15-day injured listed.

05/06/26: Red Sox sent RHP Justin Slaten on a rehab assignment to Worcester Red Sox.

05/07/26: Red Sox recalled C Mickey Gasper from Worcester Red Sox.

05/07/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Raymond Burgos to a minor league contract.

05/07/26: Red Sox placed LF Roman Anthony on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 5, 2026. Right wrist sprain.

05/08/26: Red Sox recalled RHP Jack Anderson from Worcester Red Sox.

05/08/26: Red Sox optioned LHP Jake Bennett to Worcester Red Sox.

05/09.26: Red Sox optioned RHP Jack Anderson to Worcester Red Sox.

05/09/26: Red Sox activated RHP Justin Slaten from the 15-day injured list.

05/09/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Leonel Figuera to a minor league contract.

05/09/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Juan Verdus to a minor league contract.

Scores:

Game 34 (05/04): BOS 5, DET 4

Game 35 (05/05): BOS 10, DET 3

Game 36 (05/06): BOS 4, DET 0

Game 37 (05/07): BOS 4, TB 8

Game 38 (05/08): BOS 2, TB 0

Game 39 (05/10): BOS 1, TB 4

Series Breakdown/Highlights

Tigers Series: The beginning of the week saw three straight games of the best baseball the Red Sox have played all season. Granted, they lucked out by two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal going on the injured list before game one, but they took advantage of a gifted situation and won a game that shouldn’t have been a one-run victory. Garrett Whitlock allowed two runs in the eighth inning to give everyone a bit of an uneasy feeling, but Payton Tolle was able to lock up his first major-league win after pitching through a torrential downpour for two innings by turning in the best start of his career. He threw seven innings of two-run baseball, neither earned, while striking out eight.

Game two is where we saw the fireworks, in more ways than one. The Red Sox have always had a propensity for picking up pitcher tells and pitch grips when they are on second and Tuesday was no exception. The Red Sox tagged starter Framber Valdez for seven earned runs, four of those being home runs. Valdez gave up back-to-back moonshots to Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu, then promptly threw at Trevor Story. Benches cleared, Valdez was ejected, and the Red Sox kept rolling. Overshadowed by the offense was just how good Brayan Bello was coming in after an opener for game two. He tossed seven innings with seven strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run.

The finale of the series saw Sonny Gray return from the injured list and pitched decently against the Tigers. The team secured their first series sweep of the season against a team that is penciled in to win their division, even if their ace wasn’t able to pitch during it.

Rays Series: We had our first reschedule due to rain during the series against the Rays. The Saturday game will be made up on July 17. Game one saw rookie Jake Bennett get tagged for four runs, but the Red Sox fought to stay in the game. Unfortunately for them, Greg Weissert and Ryan Watson had other plans. They allowed four more Rays to score and the late game push to even things up came up short.

In game two, the Sox kept the Fenway Green magic rolling by shutting out the Rays behind seven innings and eight strikeouts from Connelly Early. The rookie southpaw showed he was the correct option to take Johan Oviedo’s rotation spot at the end of spring training and is mostly trending up with each start. The reschedule gave Payton Tolle another day of rest but he couldn’t score runs on his own. He gave up three earned, but the eye test looked far better than what the line showed. Unfortunately, Willson Contreras was hit on the hand early in the game and was replaced by Andruw Monasterio. Scans on Willson’s hand came back negative, but manager Chad Tracy said he was very sore. They’ll reevaluate him on the Monday off day and move forward with that information. If there’s one player the Red Sox can’t afford to lose right now, it’s Contreras.