Red Sox return to winning ways with 6-4 victory vs. Blue Jays

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Jul 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — One streak ends, another one begins?

After seeing their historic 15-game win streak come to an end on Wednesday night, the Red Sox took Thursday’s off-day to regroup and returned to the ballpark ready to play, beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4, in Friday’s series opener.

Anthony Seigler went 4 for 5 with a home run, two doubles and two RBIs while falling a triple short of the cycle, and after the Blue Jays rallied to tie the game at 4-4 late, Romy Gonzalez came through with the go-ahead pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom of the eighth.

The Red Sox have now won 21 of their last 24 games dating back to June 25 and are an MLB-best 16-2 in July.

It was a bit of an adventurous day for Willson Contreras, who spent more time on the ground than the Red Sox would probably prefer to see. The Red Sox slugger dove headfirst into first base to beat out a softly hit chopper in the first, slid awkwardly into second on an ensuing stolen base, and the following inning lost his balance ranging to his right for a ground ball where he should have instead gone right to cover the first base bag.

Contreras was in obvious discomfort after sliding into second but remained in the game after being checked by the trainer between innings.

Red Sox starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval also got off to a rocky start but managed to avoid any early damage. The left-hander committed an error and walked two to load the bases with two outs in the first but struck out Davis Schneider to keep things scoreless.

Seigler immediately took advantage by crushing his first career leadoff home run to the right field stands, giving the Red Sox a quick 1-0 edge.

Seigler led off the third with a single his following at bat and scored when Rafaela subsequently lifted a line drive right off the top of the Green Monster for a two-run home run off Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage. The play was briefly reviewed but quickly confirmed to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.

Sandoval settled down over the next few innings but ran into trouble again in the fifth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached on a hard-hit single and Kazuma Okamoto doubled off the wall to put two men in scoring position. Sandoval won an eight-pitch battle with George Springer by drawing a pop out to the catcher, and Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy opted to go to reliever Tyron Guerrero for the final out, and the hard-throwing righty, who at one point hit 103 mph on the radar gun, preserved Sandoval’s spotless line by forcing Alejandro Kirk to fly out to right.

Sandoval wound up throwing 4 2/3 scoreless innings with five hits, two walks and three strikeouts on 84 pitches.

The Red Sox had several chances to put the game away late, starting in the sixth when the club loaded the bases with one out. Andruw Monasterio came through with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 4-0, but the team couldn’t stretch the lead any further. Connor Wong nearly had what looked off the bat like a sure RBI single, but Caleb Durbin was thrown out at the plate on an absolutely perfect throw home by Blue Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes to end the inning.

Missing a chance to put the Blue Jays away proved costly.

Following Guerrero out of the Red Sox bullpen was Greg Weissert, who recorded a quick out before hitting and walking a batter. That brought up Okamoto, and the rookie from Japan sent the first pitch he saw into the first row of the center field bleachers for a three-run homer, his 23rd of the season.

Their lead now down to one, the Red Sox missed another golden opportunity when they loaded the bases in the seventh. Masataka Yoshida hit a hard line drive with two outs that bounced off Guerrero Jr.’s glove and far enough away for Yoshida to beat everyone to the bag, but Durbin couldn’t take advantage and grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.

Again, the Blue Jays took advantage.

Garrett Whitlock, who entered Friday with 13 consecutive scoreless appearances, wasn’t as sharp as usual and allowed a leadoff double to Lukes, who came around to tie the game at 4-4 on Gimenez’s sacrifice fly.

Finally, in the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox landed a knockout blow.

Jarren Duran led off the inning with a single, and Gonzalez pinch hit for Wong and hit a hard live drive down the left field line. The speedy Duran scored easily from first, and after Seigler drove home an insurance run with his second double of the game.

Aroldis Chapman finished the job for his 24th save of the season.

With Friday’s win the Red Sox (53-49) are now 7-1 to start their 10-game homestand and will have a chance to clinch their sixth consecutive series victory with one more win over the weekend. By virtue of Cleveland’s loss to Tampa Bay, the Red Sox also moved up into the second AL wild-card spot.

The Red Sox will look to make it two in a row Saturday. Sonny Gray (12-1, 2.48) is expected to face off against Blue Jays ace and All-Star Game starter Dylan Cease (6-5, 2.67), and first pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.