The Red Sox opened a three-game series against the Blue Jays on Friday night with Patrick Sandoval making his third start back, a useful checkpoint for Boston as it tries to stay firmly in the playoff race. Toronto arrived at Fenway having already shown it can trouble this opponent, while Boston needed a steady outing after its winning streak ended on Wednesday.
Boston entered the game two games up for the final wild-card spot and just a half-game behind the Guardians for the second wild-card position. Toronto, meanwhile, was last in the AL East but came in with a little momentum after beating the Rays 3-1 on Thursday to snap a four-game losing streak.
Sandoval’s return remains one of the more important storylines for the Red Sox. He had come back from a two-year absence following Tommy John surgery, and this start gave Boston another look at how much he can offer the rotation down the stretch.
Sandoval's latest test
Chad Tracy put the club’s perspective plainly after the streak ended, saying: “All of us knew that it was going to end at some point. It just happened to end [on Wednesday].” He added that the bigger picture still mattered more than the run itself: “The big thing is if we continue to play baseball that way, regardless of how many wins in a row, we’re going to win a heck of a lot more than we lose.”
That is the right way to view this series opener. Boston has played well enough to stay in the race, but the margin remains thin, and every start has some significance when the standings are this tight. Sandoval’s previous outing, a Saturday start against the Rays, brought mixed results as he allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings.
For Boston, the question is whether Sandoval can keep the game stable enough to let the rest of the lineup work. That matters even more against a Toronto team that has already handled the Red Sox well this season.
Toronto has already set the tone
The Blue Jays beat the Red Sox in Boston on April 28, when Trey Yesavage threw 5⅓ shutout innings. Toronto also swept Boston in a three-game series at Fenway from June 16-18, then Yesavage returned on June 18 and delivered 7⅓ innings of three-run ball in a no-decision.
That background gives this matchup an edge beyond the standings. The Blue Jays have shown they can match up cleanly with Boston, and Friday night offered the Red Sox another chance to reset that story in their own building.
Yesavage started again for Toronto, adding another layer to a series that was never going to feel like an ordinary midsummer game. The Red Sox and Blue Jays have already spent enough of this season testing one another to make every meeting matter, especially when Boston is still trying to protect its playoff position.
For fans following from home, the game was being shown on Apple TV. And for Boston, the next two nights would help show whether Sandoval’s return and the club’s recent form can hold up under a little more pressure.
