The Red Sox have taken the first two games of their series against the Angels after cruising to an 8-1 victory Saturday night at Angel Stadium.<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s win was fueled by a pair of players who were left off the American League All-Star roster earlier in the day and wasted little time reminding everyone why they deserve to be in Philadelphia for the Midsummer Classic.<\/p>\n
The Sox jumped on the Angels immediately, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning behind Willson Contreras\u2019 three-run homer before breaking the game open with a four-run fifth that featured a two-run blast from Romy Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n
Sonny Gray handled the rest.<\/p>\n
The veteran right-hander turned in another outstanding outing, allowing one run on four hits over six innings while striking out seven and walking two. Gray improved to 10-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.61, the second-best mark in the American League.<\/p>\n
Gray has now delivered six consecutive quality starts since May 30, going 5-0 with a sparkling 1.97 ERA during that stretch.<\/p>\n
Few offseason additions around baseball have paid bigger dividends than Gray and Contreras. Acquired from the Cardinals over the winter, the duo has been instrumental in keeping the Red Sox afloat, yet both were surprisingly left off the American League All-Star roster.<\/p>\n
Contreras, in particular, has a compelling case.<\/p>\n
The first baseman has already launched 19 home runs and is on pace to shatter his career high of 24. He\u2019s also batting in the middle of Boston\u2019s lineup with 56 RBIs, a .536 slugging percentage and a career-best .914 OPS.<\/p>\n
According to FanGraphs, Contreras has been worth 2.9 WAR this season, trailing only the Athletics\u2019 Nick Kurtz (3.4) among American League first basemen.<\/p>\n
With Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. announcing he won\u2019t participate in the All-Star Game, Contreras should be one of the leading candidates to be named as his replacement.<\/p>\n
Before Saturday\u2019s game, Contreras admitted he tried not to get caught up in the All-Star announcement, but acknowledged he believed he had done enough to earn the honor.<\/p>\n
“If you ask me if I feel personally that I’m deserving, I would tell you yes,” Contreras said.<\/p>\n
In the clubhouse afterward, Gray didn\u2019t hide his disappointment. The veteran right-hander offered a candid assessment of being left off the American League All-Star roster.<\/p>\n
“I was disappointed, for sure,” Gray said. “[I\u2019m just] being honest. … Happy for Ranger and happy for Chappie, for sure. Very well deserving, both of those guys. But a little selfishly, I was disappointed.”<\/p>\n
The Red Sox will have just two representatives at this year\u2019s All-Star Game, both of them left-handed pitchers.<\/p>\n
Ranger Suarez\u00a0and\u00a0Aroldis Chapman were Boston\u2019s lone selections after strong first halves that helped anchor the club\u2019s pitching staff.<\/p>\n
For Suarez, the trip to Philadelphia will be a homecoming of sorts.<\/p>\n
The veteran left-hander spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Phillies before signing with the Red Sox this past offseason. He\u2019ll return to Citizens Bank Park having posted a 2.94 ERA across 16 starts.<\/p>\n
It marks the second All-Star selection of Suarez\u2019s career. He also earned the honor in 2024 but was unable to participate because of injury, making this his first opportunity to take part in the Midsummer Classic.<\/p>\n
“This will be nice to be able to be present there and take it all in,” Su\u00e1rez said through P\u00e9rez. “Just looking to go and enjoy, be a part of it, have fun with everybody there. This being my first one that I’m there, who knows, maybe I’ll get to play in the game and be a part of it in that way.”<\/p>\n
Chapman, who earned his All-Star selection through the players\u2019 vote, also reached a historic milestone Friday night.<\/p>\n
In the series opener against the Angels, the 38-year-old closer picked up his 17th save of the season while recording the 1,364th strikeout of his career, surpassing Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm for the most strikeouts by a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball history. Wilhelm\u2019s record had stood for 54 years.<\/p>\n
The milestone added another chapter to what has been a remarkable first season in Boston for Chapman, who has once again established himself as one of baseball\u2019s most dominant late-inning arms.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s really important. It’s big for me, that fact,” Chapman said through a team interpreter. “I think it’s a testament to how they recognize the amount of discipline and hard work that I’ve put in. And to have that recognized, it’s kind of them showing me my merit with how I’ve been performing over the years.”<\/p>\n
Now a nine-time All-Star, Chapman admitted his perspective on the event has changed as he\u2019s gotten older, saying he appreciates the opportunity more now than he did earlier in his career.<\/p>\n
“Everyone knows it. I’m 38, so some might say, you know, I’m reaching the end of my career,” Chapman said. “So I’m just going to enjoy it. I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can, because you don’t ever know if this is going to be the last one — the last time that I get selected.”<\/p>\n
Beyond the All-Star snubs, the Red Sox put the game away with a four-run fifth inning against reliever Samy Natera Jr.<\/p>\n
Wilyer Abreu ripped a two-run double into right field before Gonz\u00e1lez capped the rally with a two-run homer, stretching Boston\u2019s lead to 7-1. Ceddanne Rafaela added an RBI double in the eighth inning to put the finishing touches on the 8-1 victory.<\/p>\n
“We’re doing a nice job taking our walks when they give them to us,” Chad Tracy said of the offensive approach. “Just be very selective. … And then we got people on base and got three big swings from the big boys between Willson, Romy, and Abreu.”<\/p>\n
With the game comfortably in hand, Tracy lifted Gray after six innings and turned things over to the bullpen. Jovani Mor\u00e1n, Greg Weissert and Alec Gamboa combined for three scoreless innings to finish off Boston\u2019s second straight win over the Angels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a sizable lead, a full bullpen, some guys that haven\u2019t thrown, it felt like we had a pretty good handle on it and after pushing him hard with the potential no-hitter last time it just felt like it was good to give him a little extra breather,\u201d Tracy said.<\/p>\n
With the win, the Red Sox improved to 39-48 and climbed back to within nine games of .500 after briefly falling back into double digits earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Boston will go for the three-game sweep Sunday night behind Suarez (4-3, 2.94 ERA), who is scheduled to face Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson (1-3, 7.40 ERA). First pitch is set for 9:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Before Saturday night\u2019s win over the Angels, Contreras addressed the string of emotional on-field incidents that culminated in his suspension following last week\u2019s benches-clearing altercation with the Nationals.<\/p>\n
The suspension stemmed from Contreras\u2019 role in Tuesday\u2019s confrontation with Washington after Nationals starter Cade Cavalli\u00a0appeared to direct comments toward him following a strikeout. The Red Sox first baseman walked toward the mound, the benches and bullpens emptied, and Contreras was ultimately ejected after throwing his helmet during the melee.<\/p>\n
Just one night earlier, Contreras had also been ejected after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Sox have taken the first two games of their series against the Angels after cruising to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,24643,15958,62294,155981,155980],"class_list":["post-387049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-red-sox","tag-sticky","tag-sunday-notebooks","tag-top-red-sox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}