The Boston Red Sox enter Wednesday’s series finale in Miami looking to complete a sweep of the Marlins and stretch a five-game winning streak that has them rolling again after a midseason slump.
The club sits at 73-59 and has won eight of its last 10, putting it within striking distance of the top American League Wild Card spot even as the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees remain ahead in the East.
Injuries have thinned the roster, yet the lineup has still found ways to score, and manager Chad Tracy is now choosing when to give his most productive bat a breather.
That decision fell on Willson Contreras. After starting eight consecutive games, the 34-year-old first baseman is out of the Wednesday lineup against right-hander Ryan Gusto. Nick Sogard slides over to first base while Anthony Seigler starts at second.
Contreras is in the midst of the best offensive season of his career. In 121 games he has already hit 26 home runs, matching and then surpassing his previous single-season high, and he sits at .281 with a .916 OPS and 78 RBI.
Those numbers represent career peaks in average and slugging, and they have given Boston a reliable middle-of-the-order presence after he arrived from the Cardinals.
The rest is not an injury-related absence. Contreras played Tuesday’s extra-inning win, going 2-for-5 and starting the 11th-inning rally that Jarren Duran finished with a grand slam.
Giving him a day off before a weekend series in the Bronx is a straightforward load-management choice as September approaches. The Red Sox have already shown they can win without him in the lineup; Sogard and Seigler have both contributed extra-base hits during the recent surge.
Boston’s pitching staff has been the more consistent half of the equation. Sonny Gray, 16-3 with a 2.79 ERA, takes the ball Wednesday and remains on pace to chase 20 wins, something no Red Sox starter has done since 2016.
If the offense continues to get timely production from Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and the supporting cast, the club can keep climbing even while key pieces such as Adley Rutschman and Curtis Mead recover.
Contreras still has more than a month to chase 30 home runs and to prove he can carry that production into October.
For one night in Miami, though, the Red Sox are asking someone else to fill the first-base spot while they try to finish off the Marlins and head north with another series victory.
