The Boston Red Sox are in unfamiliar territory, and they’ll hope to remain there Sunday when they wrap up a four-game series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

Boston’s 7-6 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday extended the team’s winning streak to 12 games and moved Boston’s record to 49-48. It’s the first time the Red Sox have been over the .500 mark this season since they beat Cincinnati on opening day.

Boston pitching held opponents to 17 runs during the first 11 games of the team’s winning streak, but it was power at the plate that produced Saturday’s win. Wilyer Abreu homered twice, including a two-run shot off Garrett Cleavinger that gave Boston a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning. Tampa Bay led 6-3 entering the bottom of the seventh.

“Never a doubt,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said with a laugh after the game. “Electric. It was awesome. Once again, we didn’t get a ton of hits early, but the ones we got mattered. The at-bats late, Wilyer obviously, just (an) electric win.”

The winning streak has moved Boston from the bottom of the American League East standings into third place. The Red Sox trail the division-leading Rays by seven games.

“They feel good about themselves and another game that shows, at the moment, they don’t feel like they’re out of it,” Tracy said. “If you keep it close, they feel like they’re gonna make a run at it, so it was awesome, awesome to watch that.”

Abreu, who hit a solo home run to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead, has 15 home runs this season, including four in his last two games.

“When (Abreu is) not hot, he still takes quality at-bats,” Tracy said. “When he hits a homer or two, you feel like they come in bunches, and they certainly are right now and they’ve been in big spots.”

The Rays enter Sunday’s matchup looking to end a four-game losing streak.

“(The Red Sox are) having a bunch of good at-bats right now,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “We fell behind Abreu right there (in the seventh), who’s as hot as anybody maybe in the game. I think we threw him three fastballs in a row and on the third one he capitalized.”

The Rays outhit the Red Sox 10-6 in the loss, but five of Boston’s six hits went for extra bases. In addition to Abreu’s two home runs, Jahmai Jones hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox. It was his second game with Boston since he was acquired from Detroit.

Tampa Bay received solo home runs from Victor Mesa Jr., and Jonny DeLuca.

“We did some good things offensively,” Cash said. “That was encouraging. Hopefully, we can build off that.”

Sunday’s pitching matchup will feature Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan (8-5, 2.83 ERA) and Boston righty Sonny Gray (11-1, 2.54).

McClanahan has a 5-1 record and a 2.23 ERA in seven career starts against the Red Sox. Gray is 6-6 with a 4.14 ERA in 17 career appearances (15 starts) against Tampa Bay.

–Field Level Media

Even in a lopsided victory, the Philadelphia Phillies’ inconsistent ways continued Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the New York Mets, consistency has been their biggest problem.

The Phillies and the Mets will each look to earn a series win Sunday afternoon, when Philadelphia hosts New York in the finale of a three-game series between the National League East rivals.

Alan Rangel (0-2, 4.19 ERA) is slated to start for the Phillies against fellow rookie right-hander Nolan McLean (6-6, 3.52).

Trea Turner had three hits, including a homer, and scored three runs Saturday as the Phillies cruised to a 6-1 win.

The six runs were the most for the Phillies since July 4, when they beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-1. Philadelphia has scored more than four runs just five times in 13 games this month, during which it’s gone 7-6 while never winning or losing more than two straight contests.

The Phillies could have had an even bigger afternoon Saturday, when J.T. Realmuto was stranded at third in the second inning, and Edmundo Sosa and Brandon Marsh were left at the corners in the fourth. But Philadelphia put the game away by scoring twice apiece in the fifth and sixth.

The Phillies remain a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the top NL wild-card spot and three games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, who are in a virtual tie for the last NL playoff berth.

“Had a couple innings there — (those) type of innings that make you nervous,” interim Phillies manager Don Mattingly said. “You look at those and you feel like sometimes they’re going to come back to haunt you. Today, it didn’t. Obviously, we were able to keep pushing.”

The Mets’ woes on both sides of the ball continued Saturday, when they had as many hits (three) as errors. Only one of the errors — catcher Francisco Alvarez’s errant pickoff throw trying to nab Kyle Schwarber at first in the fifth — led to a run, but the all-around sloppiness symbolized New York’s disappointing season.

New York, which is in last place in the NL East and on pace for its worst season since 2003 (66-95, .410), ranks 28th in the majors with a .682 OPS while committing 69 errors, second-most behind the Washington Nationals (76).

The Mets ranked sixth in the big leagues last season with a .753 OPS and committed 79 errors, after which president of baseball operations David Stearns emphasized run prevention during an overhaul that shuffled Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo out of town.

But New York has scored one run or fewer 22 times this season after doing so just a major league-low 21 times last season.

“You have to take the mentality that you’re going to score, that you’re going to make plays, that you’re going to defend the field,” interim Mets manager Andy Green said. “I think a little bit of a mentality shift is a positive thing in that setting.”

Rangel was tagged with the loss in his most recent start July 8, when he gave up three runs over 3 1/3 innings as the Phillies were routed by the host Cincinnati Reds, 11-5.

McLean took the defeat on July 10 after allowing a pair of unearned runs as the Mets fell to the visiting Boston Red Sox, 6-2.

Rangel lost his lone appearance against the Mets on June 27, when he surrendered four runs over four innings in the Phillies’ 6-2 road loss. McLean is 1-1 with an 0.68 ERA in two career starts a year ago against Philadelphia.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from the All-Star break on Friday and earned a win on a night when stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were quiet at the plate against the New York Yankees.

Instead, the Dodgers relied on dominant pitching and a clutch hit in the late innings of a 2-1 victory.

The teams will continue their three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, though bad weather is forecast. Heavy rain is projected for the New York area for most of Saturday, and if the game gets rained out, the teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday.

The Dodgers are 31-17 on the road this season and own 18 one-run victories after opening the series with the one-run victory Friday on Max Muncy’s go-ahead, two-run homer off Gerrit Cole with no outs in the seventh inning.

Muncy’s homer was among five hits for the Dodgers, who struck out 10 times. Ohtani, Freeman and Betts were a combined 0-for-11, though Betts drew a walk before Muncy homered.

“It was good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Any time you can find a way to win a game when Gerrit Cole is pitching is a good thing.”

The Yankees were held to one run or less for the 16th time this season, and for the seventh time since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured right rib.

New York allowed Muncy’s homer after Yankees manager Aaron Boone elected to keep Cole in after a mound visit.

The Yankees finished with six hits, including a double by Ben Rice, who is batting .412 during a nine-game hitting streak. Rice’s double nearly tied the game in the eighth, but Trent Grisham was thrown out at the plate on a throw by Betts.

“It’s just baseball,” Grisham said. “Sometimes you score 10, sometimes you score one.”

Left-hander Ryan Weathers (3-7, 4.15 ERA) will start for the Yankees on Saturday after allowing one run on six hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in his team’s 5-3 victory over Washington on July 10.

Weathers is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in his past three outings. He is 0-3 with a 5.46 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against the Dodgers, though he has held Betts to one hit in 12 at-bats and Ohtani to 1-for-8. Weathers has struggled against Freeman, as the first baseman is 5-for-10 against him.

Right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-6, 4.81 ERA) will start for Los Angeles on Saturday and is 1-5 in his past nine starts since May 14. This will be his first career appearance against the Yankees.

Sheehan last pitched on Sunday, when he allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in the Dodgers’ 5-3 loss to Arizona.

–Field Level Media