By Laura Soukkavong –
The Worcester Red Sox kept rolling at Polar Park, the Boston Red Sox were blanked at Fenway Park, the New England Revolution delivered one of their strongest performances of the season, the Boston Legacy protected a narrow lead under heavy pressure, and the Portland Sea Dogs were shut out in Binghamton during a busy Saturday across New England sports.
In Worcester, the WooSox scored four runs after the first two batters were retired in the first inning and never looked back, beating the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 5-0, before a sellout crowd of 8,025 at Polar Park.
The victory was Worcester’s fifth in a row and matched the club’s longest winning streak of the season.
It also extended the WooSox’s home winning streak to six games and improved their overall stretch to 14 wins in their last 20 games.
Five Worcester pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as Jacksonville suffered its 11th consecutive loss.
The WooSox again relied on the inning that has produced more offense than any other for them this season.
Worcester entered Saturday having scored 86 runs in the first inning, by far its highest total in any frame.
The inning appeared to be slipping away quickly after Franklin Arias flew out to center field in his first Triple-A at-bat and Nick Sogard followed with another flyout.
Then the WooSox offense came alive.
Nate Eaton drove a solo home run onto the packed left-field berm for his seventh of the season.
Andrew Knizner and Brett Harris followed with singles, Jason Delay walked to load the bases and Vinny Capra delivered a two-run single to right field.
Kristian Campbell added another run-scoring single to right, giving Worcester a 4-0 lead before Jacksonville could escape the inning.
The early outburst was enough for a pitching staff that never allowed the Jumbo Shrimp to build any offensive momentum.
Arias, ranked as Boston’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 4 prospect in all of Minor League Baseball by Baseball America, finished 0-for-4 in his WooSox debut.
He still contributed to the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning that produced Worcester’s final run.
The 20-year-old arrived in Triple-A after batting .318 in 75 games for Double-A Portland, where he ranked second in the Eastern League.
Arias also hit 19 home runs, tied for third, and drove in 52 runs, tied for seventh.
His first game in Worcester did not produce a hit, but the debut still offered a glimpse of the expectations surrounding one of the youngest players at the Triple-A level.
Worcester used an opener for the third time in four games.
Devin Sweet worked the first two innings and allowed one hit.
Tyler Samaniego followed with two perfect innings and was credited with the victory.
Noah Song threw two hitless innings, Seth Martinez worked one inning and Angel Bastardo finished the game with two innings and three strikeouts.
The shutout was Worcester’s fourth of the season.
The WooSox have scored 39 runs on 53 hits over their last four games and have outscored Jacksonville, 42-20, while winning each of the first five games of the series.
The five-game winning streak matches season-best runs previously recorded in early April and early June.
A victory Sunday would give Worcester six consecutive wins for the first time since the club set a franchise record with nine straight victories from June 1 through June 11, 2025.
The WooSox improved to 14-11 in the second half and 50-46 overall.
They are four games above .500 for the first time since June 10, when they were 33-29.
Worcester will attempt to complete a six-game sweep Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at Polar Park.
The game will be televised on NESN+ and carried on NASH 98.9 FM.
A sweep would be only the third six-game sweep in the WooSox’s nearly six-year history.
Worcester swept a six-game road series at Rochester from August 31 through September 5, 2021, and swept six games at home against Rochester from June 3 through June 8, 2025.
The WooSox also swept an abbreviated five-game series at St. Paul earlier this season.
The scene was far different at Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox were shut out by the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-0.
Boston managed only one hit and did not produce a baserunner until Andruw Monasterio drew a two-out walk in the fifth inning.
The Red Sox did not record a hit until Monasterio doubled to open the sixth.
It was Boston’s first shutout loss since June 17, also against Toronto at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox have been shut out five times this season, including three times at home.
Boston has lost two of its last three games after tying the franchise record with a 15-game winning streak.
The Red Sox have also lost six of their last seven games against Toronto since April 28 and fell to 2-6 against the Blue Jays this season.
They have lost five of their last six games against Toronto at Fenway Park since June 29, 2025.
The loss dropped Boston to 36-40 against right-handed starting pitchers.
The Red Sox are 17-10 against left-handed starters.
Boston had won nine of its previous 10 games against right-handed starters dating to July 5 before Saturday’s offensive collapse.
The Red Sox were held to one hit or fewer for the first time since September 19, 2024, at Tampa Bay.
It was the first time Boston had been held to one hit or fewer at Fenway Park since April 19, 2016, against Tampa Bay.
Toronto also became the first opposing club to receive a complete-game shutout against Boston since Minnesota’s Joe Ryan accomplished the feat on June 22, 2023.
It was the first complete-game shutout by an opposing pitcher at Fenway Park since Masahiro Tanaka did it for the New York Yankees on April 27, 2017.
Sonny Gray allowed a season-high 10 hits and matched his season high by giving up five runs in five innings.
Toronto collected six consecutive two-out hits against Gray in the third inning.
The loss ended Gray’s career-high streak of 10 consecutive winning decisions dating to May 6.
It was only his second loss of the season.
Gray also saw his streak of nine consecutive quality starts come to an end.
That run was tied for the second-longest of his career.
He allowed 10 or more hits for the eighth time in his career and surrendered more than three earned runs for only the second time in 19 starts this season.
Monasterio’s sixth-inning double extended his hitting streak to seven games.
It is the second-longest hitting streak of his career, behind an 11-game run from August 21 through August 31, 2025.
Monasterio is batting .349 in 13 July games with 15 hits, six doubles, one triple, two home runs and six RBIs.
While the Red Sox labored offensively, the New England Revolution erupted at Gillette Stadium.
The Revolution defeated Atlanta United FC, 4-1, in front of a season-high crowd of 34,428.
The victory moved New England into third place in the Eastern Conference with a 9-5-2 record and 29 points.
New England scored twice in each half and received goal-and-assist performances from Dor Turgeman, Carles Gil and Brooklyn Raines.
Peyton Miller also scored, Alhassan Yusuf recorded two assists and Jackson Yueill added an assist off the bench.
The Revolution controlled the match from the opening whistle and took the lead in the 11th minute.
Matt Turner made a save and quickly started the attack with a long throw to Turgeman.
Turgeman switched the ball to Matt Polster, who controlled it with his chest and laid it off to Gil.
Gil created enough space to curl a left-footed shot inside the far post for his sixth goal of the season.
Turgeman added a goal of his own in the 36th minute.
New England worked a short corner and moved the ball through a series of passes before Raines played the ball into Yusuf.
Yusuf sent a driven cross into the penalty area, and Turgeman redirected it off the near post and into the net.
The goal gave Turgeman his second goal-and-assist performance of the MLS season.
Atlanta nearly cut into the lead before halftime.
Miguel Almirón pushed one chance past Turner and off the post before forcing Turner into a diving save from distance.
Turner finished with six saves and preserved New England’s two-goal advantage going into halftime.
The Revolution extended the lead early in the second half.
Gil combined with Yusuf near the left side of Atlanta’s penalty area.
Yusuf drove a low ball across the front of goal and the 18-year-old Miller met it in stride, redirecting it into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Raines scored New England’s fourth goal in the 67th minute.
He drove toward the center of the Atlanta penalty area and passed to Yueill, who had entered the match eight minutes earlier.
Yueill returned the ball and Raines finished the give-and-go for his first MLS goal.
Atlanta scored its only goal with five minutes remaining in regulation.
The visitors worked through New England’s defense before Almirón placed a shot beyond Turner.
The Revolution closed out the remaining minutes and secured all three points.
The win was New England’s fifth consecutive victory over Atlanta dating to July 2024.
The Revolution have earned 25 points in 10 home matches, tied for the most in MLS.
New England has also collected points in 10 of its last 12 league matches, going 8-2-2 over that stretch.
Gil’s goal-and-assist performance was the 15th of his MLS career.
The Revolution are 12-0-3 when Gil records both a goal and an assist in the same match.
Turgeman recorded the third goal-and-assist performance of his MLS career and scored the winning goal.
Polster earned the 20th MLS assist of his career and his first of the season.
Miller has now scored in both matches against Atlanta this season.
Yusuf recorded the first multi-assist game of his MLS career.
Raines produced the first goal-and-assist match of his MLS career.
Yueill recorded his first assist for the Revolution and his first MLS helper since August 2024.
Marcos Zambrano made his first MLS start and played 69 minutes at right wing.
Cody Baker made his Revolution debut and his fourth MLS appearance of the season.
The Revolution will travel to face CF Montréal on Saturday, August 1, at 7:30 p.m. at Stade Saputo.
The match will be available on Apple TV in English, Spanish and French, with local radio coverage on 98.5 The Sports Hub and 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.
The Boston Legacy also protected a narrow lead Saturday, defeating the Kansas City Current, 1-0.
Aïssata Traoré scored the early goal and Boston defended the advantage through more than 11 minutes of stoppage time while playing with 10 players.
The victory gave the Legacy three shutouts in their last four games.
In Binghamton, the Portland Sea Dogs were held to two hits in a 5-0 loss to the Rumble Ponies.
Anthony Eyanson started for Portland and worked three scoreless innings.
He allowed two hits and three walks while striking out five.
Binghamton broke through in the fourth inning when John Bay singled home JT Schwartz.
Jose Ramos added a two-run home run in the fifth, and Wyatt Young followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Rumble Ponies added their final run in the seventh.
Matt Rudick advanced on two stolen bases and a wild pitch before scoring when Nick Lucky dropped a ball over the drawn-in infield.
Jonathan Santucci earned the victory after allowing two hits and no runs over five innings.
He walked three and struck out six.
Jedixson Paez took the loss after allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mirabito Stadium.
Gage Ziehl is scheduled to start for Portland against Bryce Conley.