Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox

BOSTON – Wilyer Abreu watched five pitches from Garrett Cleavinger go by, none piquing the Red Sox right fielder’s interest enough to even lift his bat off his shoulder. But when the sixth pitch came his way, Abreu uncorked Saturday’s game-changing swing. Down by one with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Abreu launched a Statcast-projected 412-foot home run into the right-center-field seats to give the Red Sox their ultimate 7-6 lead at Fenway Park, en route to the team’s 12th straight win. “After he threw three balls in a row, I didn’t want to get too excited,” Abreu said. “After that, I just tried to stay humble and get on my approach. … He gave me a really good pitch to my strengths, and I took advantage of it.” At 49-48, Boston is over .500 for the first time since it was 1-0 after winning on Opening Day. The Red Sox went down 2-0 in the top of the second, but they responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Abreu gave Boston a brief lead with two outs in the bottom of the third, destroying a no-doubt Statcast-projected 435-foot homer to straightaway center field with a 108.5 mph exit velocity. “Every mistake, he's hitting out of the yard,” Rays starter Ian Seymour, who gave up the home run, said. “I gave him a mistake, and he made me pay."