Masataka Yoshida flirts with cycle, Red Sox bombard Rays to win 10th straight

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on Jul 17, 2026

Published in Baseball

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In recent years the Boston Red Sox have surged into the All-Star break and struggled to maintain their momentum upon reentry.

And their struggles at Fenway Park this season verged into franchise-worse territory at one point.

But the home team had neither such issue in Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader, a 10-0 bombardment of the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in which a sold-out crowd watched designated hitter Masataka Yoshida flirt with the cycle, rookie left-hander Jake Bennett deliver yet another gem on the mound, and the win streak reach 10.

Rays starter Griffin Jax blazed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the first on a first-pitch groundout and back-to-back strikeouts. It was his easiest frame by far, as the Red Sox pestered him relentlessly until the bottom of the sixth, when he exited without recording an out.

Yoshida was on Cycle Watch by the bottom of the sixth, by which time he’d doubled, homered and singled. He finished the day 3 for 5 with three runs, an RBI and a strikeout.

Boston took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, on a leadoff single by Caleb Durbin and first-pitch double by Yoshida. A sacrifice fly by Jarren Duran brought home the former, an RBI single by Carlos Narvaez the latter. The Red Sox are 33-14 when they score first.

The Rays are known as masters of the small ball, but in the sixth inning, it was the home team that small-balled better. Eleven men came to the plate in a six-run bottom of the sixth. Six Sox batted before a Rays pitcher could record an out.

Jax began the inning by plunking Durbin with his first pitch. Yoshida followed with a single, and Romy Gonzalez walked to load the bases.

Jarren Duran’s line-drive single deflected off the glove of second baseman Ben Williamson, who would eventually pitch the bottom of the eighth, and into right field to score Durbin and Yoshida and knock Jax out of the game.

Narváez greeted right-hander Chris Roycroft with a soft bunt single and a throwing error by catcher Nick Fortes allowed Gonzalez to score. And still no out.

Tsung-Che Cheng’s soft single dribbled halfway up the third base line before it stopped. The stunned Rays could only watch as Duran scored and the umpire maintained the ball was fair.

Only then did Anthony Seigler’s double play put an out on the board. But Ceddanne Rafaela followed with his team-leading 23rd double, on the ninth pitch, which brought Narváez home from third.

Roycroft found himself in more trouble when he intentionally walked Wilyer Abreu to get to Durbin, who singled to score Rafaela. Yoshida’s strikeout brought the barrage to an end.

In the seventh, Narváez’s third home run of the year soared 412 feet to the back of the Green Monster at 106.9 mph. For just the second time this season, the Red Sox had put up double-digit runs at home.

Durbin’s two-out single in the eighth was Boston’s 15th hit, matching their season-high for a home game.

Bennett continues to give the Red Sox everything they need. He made quick work of the Tampa Bay Rays, becoming just the third pitcher in franchise history to record six scoreless innings on no more than 65 pitches. He held the Rays hitless until one out in the fourth, perfect save for a one-out walk in the first. He recorded five one-pitch outs in the first four innings.

Bennett owns a 2.35 ERA and 0.88 WHIP over nine starts this season, but it’s this latest six-game stretch that puts him in the uppermost echelon of elite Red Sox pitching; he, Chris Sale (2018), Pedro Martinez (2002) and Roger Clemens (1990) are the only Red Sox pitchers to post a sub-1.20 ERA and fewer than five walks issued over a six-game stretch (minimum 30 innings) since the Live Ball Era began in 1920.

Alec Gamboa, called up from Triple-A Worcester to serve as the 27th man, picked up where Bennett left off. The Rays didn’t collect their second hit until Taylor Walls doubled with one out in the eighth. Like anything else the Rays tried, it was for naught.

Game 2 of the doubleheader is at 7:10 p.m. ET.

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