RAIN-SHORTENED WIN: The Red Sox defeated the Tigers last night, 4-1, in a rain-shortened game that was called in the 6th inning after a 1:45 delay…Boston has won its last 4 games, the club’s longest winning streak since a 5-game stretch from 6/16-21…With last night’s win the Sox improved to 53-51, moving 2 games above .500 for the 1st time since they were 48-46 after play on 7/20…The Sox have made up 4.0 games in the division, from 11.5 to 7.5 games back, over the last 4 days.
SIGHTS ON SWEEP: A win tonight would give the Red Sox their 4th sweep of the season and their 1st since talking all 3 games against the Marlins at Fenway from 6/19-21…It would be the Sox 1st sweep of the Tigers at Fenway Park since 8/26-29/04 (4-0)…Their last overall sweep of series of at least 3 games against the Tigers came in a 3-game set in Detroit from 6/2-4/09.
ANYTHING BUT AVG: Adrian Gonzalez ranked 4th in the AL with a .372 AVG in July (35-for-94), reaching safely in 19 of 24 games in the month…Including his .373 mark (38-for-102) in 2011, Gonzalez owns a .372 AVG (73-for-196) with Boston in July, the top July clip by any Red Sox with at least 200 PA in the month, according to Elias…Gonzalez has multiple hits in 16 of 32 contests since 6/23 and tops the AL with a .383 AVG (49-for-128) in that time.
- Adrian Gonzalez leads the Majors with a .414 AVG (41-for-99) with runners in scoring position this season, including a .548 clip (17-for-31) with RISP since 6/20.
