Following a 5-2 homestand highlighted by a four-game series sweep of the rival New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox will begin a nine-game road trip on Friday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.

The trek will take the Red Sox to the All-Star break.

Boston rookie Jake Bennett (2-3, 3.27 ERA) will make his seventh major league start in the series opener and will oppose fellow left-hander Reid Detmers (3-5, 3.88).

Bennett has allowed just one earned run and seven hits over 12 1/3 innings in his last two starts while striking out 12. He comes in off a 4-1 victory over the Yankees on Saturday, when he held New York hitless until Max Schuemann drilled a 412-foot homer to center with two outs in the fifth. Bennett allowed three hits over 6 1/3 innings, with two walks and three strikeouts.

“He was awesome,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He was really good. Did it with a lot of balls in play and only a few strikeouts. A lot of weak contact, ball in play, used his defense.”

Bennett has yet to face the Angels in his young career.

Detmers, who is 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA in nine career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox, will start Friday for Los Angeles, which will try to bounce back from a three-game sweep by the Mariners in Seattle.

Detmers comes in off an impressive June that saw him go 1-0 with a 2.27 ERA in five starts. He allowed just 17 hits in 31 2/3 innings and struck out 30.

Boston had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped with an 8-1 loss Tuesday to Washington and then fell 10-2 to the Nationals on Wednesday.

“Call it a really good homestand (that) that could have been a great homestand,” Tracy said.

The Red Sox, last in the American League East, will begin the trip — which also includes three-game stops in Chicago against the White Sox and New York against the Mets — 6 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

“We’re in a much better position than we were (before the 5-2 homestand),” Tracy said. “We got a day off (Thursday). We haven’t had one in a while. Rest, recover, and then try and go have three really good series on the road, see if you can win a few series, and put yourself in a better position leading into the break. That’s the mindset.”

The Red Sox will have to do a large chunk of games without first baseman Willson Contreras, who found out Thursday that he received a seven-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his part in benches-clearing brawl with the Nationals on Tuesday. Outfielder Nate Eaton received a three-game ban.

Contreras has played 82 of his 83 games this season at first base and leads Boston in almost every offensive category, including home runs (18) and RBIs (53). He is expected to appeal the suspension, which likely would not be heard until Monday after the holiday weekend. He is eligible to play until the appeal decision has been made.

The Angels, last in the AL West, flew home Thursday night following a 1-0 loss to the Mariners. Seattle’s Bryce Miller carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Nolan Schanuel blooped a single among three defenders in shallow right.

Walbert Urena also had a no-hitter through five innings for Los Angeles before giving up a leadoff double into the gap in right-center to J.P. Crawford, who later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Cal Raleigh.

This will be the final home series for the Angels before the All-Star break. They have won four straight home series.

“We’ve got to keep playing,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe told The Orange County Register. “We’ve got three months left to this. It’s a good vibe in here. We enjoy playing with each other and coming to the field every day. We’ve just go to keep playing.”

–Field Level Media

When the Toronto Blue Jays play in Seattle, it almost feels like a neutral field.

Thousands of western Canadians generally flock to T-Mobile Park to see their country’s lone major league team.

While economic and political factors might stop some Canadians this year, a robust following for the Blue Jays still is expected when the team opens a three-game series against the Mariners on Friday night.

It also happens to be a rematch of last year’s American League Championship Series, which the Blue Jays won in seven games.

“I think it will be good for us,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “It brings you back to that heightened sense of awareness and competitiveness. It brings you back to a really, really emotional time last year. I think it will be good to be back there. They’re a damn good team. We like playing there, and we enjoy the atmosphere there. I think it will be good for the guys, honestly.”

The underperforming Blue Jays, who had a day off Thursday, lost six games in a row before taking two of three from the visiting New York Mets this week. Sean Keys and Myles Straw each hit a three-run homer in Wednesday’s 9-3 Toronto victory.

It was the first career home run for Keys, who was playing in just his third MLB game.

“That was unbelievable,” he said. “Vlad (Guerrero Jr.) brought up the (home-run) jacket. I was seeing it before the game, but I didn’t know if it would be a reality to be able to wear that. … It was awesome to be able to celebrate with them.”

Despite their 41-46 record, the Blue Jays are only 3 1/2 games behind Seattle (45-43) in the race for the AL’s third and final wild-card berth.

The Mariners are coming off a three-game sweep of the visiting Los Angeles Angels. Seattle won 1-0 Thursday as Bryce Miller took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and batterymate Cal Raleigh brought home the game’s lone run on a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.

The Mariners snapped a franchise-record-tying streak of 13 games with three runs or less last weekend against Cleveland before managing just two hits Thursday.

“To say runs were a premium (Thursday) would be an understatement,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said.

The Mariners, who have dealt with health concerns for much of the season, saw outfielders Julio Rodriguez and Victor Robles leave Thursday’s game due to injuries.

Rodriguez was hit in the back of the helmet by an errant throw from Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel while running the bases in the first inning, and Robles, who replaced Rodriguez, was hit by a pitch in the right wrist/forearm area in the third.

Wilson said Rodriguez was in the concussion protocol and that Robles’ X-rays came back negative, though both players were to be re-evaluated Friday.

The series opener between the 1977 expansion brethren is set to feature a pair of right-handers in the Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.02 ERA) and the Mariners’ Luis Castillo (3-6, 4.93).

Cease took a 7-4 loss Saturday against visiting Texas, giving up four runs over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed just four hits but walked five in addition to his 10 strikeouts. Cease is 0-0 with a 4.82 ERA in two career starts against Seattle.

Castillo is coming off a 3-1 victory last Friday in Cleveland. He allowed one run on four hits in six innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Castillo is 2-3 with a 4.68 ERA in six previous starts against Toronto.

–Field Level Media

The Miami Marlins had a sensational 20-6 record in June, and observers started to overdose on midseason optimism and talk about a possible postseason berth.

Then the Marlins received a huge reality check by starting July with two consecutive setbacks to the Colorado Rockies.

The Marlins will look to get back on the winning track when they face the Athletics on Friday night at West Sacramento, Calif.

Miami was outscored 20-7 while losing the final two contests of a four-game series with the host Rockies. Thursday’s finale saw the Rockies rout the Marlins 14-4.

Miami won 10 of 12 games before the last two losses, and the franchise has made just two postseason appearances (2020, 2023) since winning the 2003 World Series.

Manager Clayton McCullough said he understands why the playoff chatter has increased, but he also knew a 10-run loss marked the right time to deliver a message.

“We can all get caught up in what could happen months from now,” McCullough said. “Again, it’s months from now. We need to go into a new series and get as best prepared as we can for the A’s and try to win a series.

“All our focus needs to be on and should be on us. All the other discussions don’t matter right now. It’s about playing good baseball and trying to win a series.”

After being shellacked in Denver, the Marlins will find themselves in another great hitter’s ballpark for the three-game set in West Sacramento.

“Sacramento, you can really hit (there),” McCullough said. “It will be trying to limit damage, limit the big inning.”

Miami’s Otto Lopez had a homer among three hits on Thursday to raise his major-league-best average to .336.

The Athletics, meanwhile, just lost two of three home games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Wednesday’s 7-1 victory was just the third in the past 11 games overall for the A’s.

Shea Langeliers belted his 20th homer of the season — his fourth straight season of hitting at least 20. He leads American League catchers in homers and hits (87).

“For everyone out there that feels like Shea needs to be doing more, that’s a great reminder for all those,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s got 20 right now before the break. He’s been the catalyst of our offense since April, and it’s hard as a catcher to sustain the performance he put on in April. He’s done a great job. …

“The main goal is to keep Shea healthy and get him to the All-Star Game, which, I’m pretty confident that he’s going to be that guy.”

The A’s have been hit hard by injuries, with shortstop Jacob Wilson (right thumb), infielder Zack Gelof (right hand) and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom (left hip) on the injured list.

In addition, designated hitter Brent Rooker (left knee) soon will undergo season-ending surgery.

“This is a big blow,” Kotsay said. “It’s a middle-of-the-order bat. It’s a guy that produced for us offensively for the last three seasons with 30-plus homers.”

The Athletics will start Jack Perkins (2-3, 6.00 ERA) against Miami’s Tyler Phillips (1-3, 3.02) in a battle of right-handers on Friday.

Perkins, 26, has received four straight no-decisions since losing to the Houston Astros on June 5. On Saturday, he gave up two runs and four hits over five innings against the Los Angeles Angels. The A’s lost 5-2.

This will be Perkins’ first career outing against Miami.

Phillips, 28, is 0-2 over his last three turns. He lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday when he gave up two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Phillips is 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the A’s. Langeliers is 1-for-4 against Phillips.

–Field Level Media