Blue Jays AL East Recap: Jays soar into All-Star break

Red Sox end first half strong
Boston Red Sox: 49-38

The Red Sox followed up a strong series against the Rangers by quickly dispatching the Rays in a three-game sweep.

The sweep helped Boston remain two games outside of first, and allowed them to keep up with a surging Blue Jays team. The Red Sox benefited from strong performances by their rotation that backed their steady offence. This new production in their rotation comes at the right time for the Red Sox. If their staff can keep it up, they won’t need to venture too far outside of their organization for stability.

The Red Sox bullpen did take a major hit as All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel landed on the disabled list and is expected to miss between 3-6 weeks following surgery. The addition of former Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler should help offset that. Boston also added former Jays second-baseman Aaron Hill.

Boston’s offence looked as good as ever, mashing the ball like they have all season. Their ability to hit could be the difference in making up the gap in the division, as Baltimore’s offence has slowed down towards the end of the first half. The Red Sox find themselves squaring off against rival Yankees to end the week.

Final Takeaway:

The Red Sox will look to keep up their hot streak against rival Yankees to begin the second half of the season. Down by only a small margin, the Red Sox time to strike could be soon.

Next: Yankees continue to stay rather average