Red Sox Look to Complete Sweep of Rays at Fenway Behind Patrick Sandoval as Boston’s Win Streak Hits 11 Games

The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox close out their weekend set at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon, and the two AL East rivals are trending in completely opposite directions right now. Tampa Bay still owns the better overall record at 56-40, good for a comfortable cushion in the Wild Card race, but Boston has been the hottest team in baseball over the last three weeks and just took both ends of Friday’s doubleheader from the Rays by a combined score of 15-3. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET, with NESN and Rays.TV carrying the broadcast.

Momentum Has Completely Flipped in This Rivalry

Tampa Bay came into this series having dropped the season series with Boston just once in six meetings, but that script has flipped in a hurry. The Red Sox won 10-0 and 5-3 in Friday’s doubleheader sweep, extending their winning streak to 11 games overall — the longest active streak in the majors and their best run since a 10-game streak last July. Boston has now won 14 of its last 19 games and climbed all the way back to .500 at 48-48 after sitting well under water as recently as mid-June.

The Rays, meanwhile, are just 5-5 over their last 10 games after riding a nine-game winning streak earlier this month that included a stretch where they allowed only 29 runs over 17 games. That dominant pitching has cooled off in July, and Tampa Bay has now been outscored badly in back-to-back losses to open this series at Fenway.

Odds Have Shifted Toward Boston

Books have moved off the pick’em number from earlier in the week. FanDuel now has the Red Sox as -120 favorites with Tampa Bay out to +102, while the total sits at 9.5 runs. That’s a notable shift from where this game opened, reflecting Boston’s surge and a shakier version of the Rays that has shown up the last two nights. Given the way both bullpens have been used in the doubleheader, that total could see plenty of action depending on how deep the starters go.

Sandoval’s Sharp Debut Meets a Rays Lineup Missing Pop

Patrick Sandoval gets the ball for Boston in just his second start of the season after signing on to bolster the rotation. He was excellent in his lone outing on July 9 against the Chicago White Sox, allowing just one earned run over 4 1/3 innings, and carries a 2.08 ERA into Saturday. The lefty has racked up strikeouts at a strong 10.4-per-nine clip, and with a red-hot lineup behind him, Boston doesn’t need length from him to be in position to win.

Ian Seymour takes the mound for Tampa Bay looking to bounce back from a rough outing his last time out, when he was tagged for five earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings against Seattle. Seymour is 6-2 with a 4.59 ERA across his first seven starts and has been solid in stretches, finishing 18 of his appearances this season without allowing an earned run, but he’s also given up double-digit hits in multiple starts and will need to avoid the big inning against a Boston offense that’s clicking on all cylinders.

Willson Contreras has been the engine of Boston’s surge, hitting .285 with 21 home runs and 62 RBIs, and he’s continued to rake since returning from a five-game suspension, going deep in his first game back. On the other side, Junior Caminero remains one of the most dangerous hitters in the league for Tampa Bay, sitting at .281 with a team-leading 29 home runs and 60 RBIs, while Yandy Diaz has quietly put together an excellent all-around season at .314 with a .391 on-base percentage. If the Rays are going to snap this skid, it likely starts with Caminero and Diaz doing damage against a Sandoval fastball that hitters have had some success against in his limited sample this year.

Fans looking to get in on the action can check the latest lines through the FanDuel Promo Code or compare markets with the DraftKings Promo Code before puck drop… er, first pitch. Bettors weighing the total should also lean on the Expected Value (EV) Calculator to sanity-check where the number sits relative to recent scoring trends in this series.

Tue, Sep 15 • 6:40 PM	Spread	Money	Total
Athletics	+1.5 (-120)	+188	O 8 (-105)
Tampa Bay Rays	-1.5 (-102)	-225	U 7.5 (102)

Prediction and Best Bet

Boston’s lineup is simply playing a different brand of baseball right now, and Sandoval’s stuff has been sharp enough in his brief look to hold down a Rays offense that’s leaned heavily on the long ball. Tampa Bay’s pitching depth has also been stretched thin after using a lot of bullpen arms in Friday’s doubleheader, which tilts this further in Boston’s favor on Saturday.

• Prediction: Red Sox 6, Rays 4
• Best Bet: Red Sox on the moneyline

Boston’s momentum, a fresher pitching staff, and a lineup that’s hitting on all cylinders make the Red Sox the play to complete the sweep at Fenway.