Cruz (hand) has begun swinging a bat

The Red Sox need to free up three roster spots with Roman Anthony, Trevor Story and Isiah Kiner-Falefa all due back this week, but Sogard, who has taken over as Boston’s starting second baseman, has to stick around. He has two homers, four doubles, five singles and six walks in his last six games, raising his OPS from .663 to .827.

Bennett gave up two runs in a first and would have allowed more if not for an exceptional catch from Ceddanne Rafaela in center. He then allowed a Jonah Cox homer in the second. However, Bennett made things looks easy after that, with the lone remaining run scoring on a double error that gave Christian Koss a Little League homer. Bennett was pitching on nine days’ rest after back-to-back subpar outings against the A’s and Pirates. He’s over his career high in innings, so the Red Sox will try to tread carefully with him the rest of the way. It’s just not going to be easy with the team seemingly postseason bound and Payton Tolle in the same boat as Bennett.

Chapman has two saves in three days after going 19 days without one. The save today was the 396th of his career.

He allowed seven hits, walked none and struck out two. Wilkinson threw 66 pitches on three days’ rest after his two-inning MLB debut on Wednesday. With Adrian Houser moving back to the rotation, it’s unclear if Wilkinson will get a start next time through. Sending him down for a fresh arm might be a possibility.

Cox homered in his 10th big-league game back in June, but that was off Carson Kelly in 16-3 game against the Cubs. This one came off Jake Bennett in the second. Cox, who could be looking at more playing time if Victor Bericoto goes on the IL, is batting .255/.255/.489 through 50 plate appearances. He’s struck out 26 times, but he has a .526 BABIP, which seems totally sustainable.

This is a surprise, as there hadn’t really been any news on Stowers since he went on the IL with a hamstring strain on Aug. 11. Deyvison De Los Santos will return to Triple-A to make room for Stowers. Agustín Ramírez will likely lose some playing time.

Serven, who is backing up Jonah Heim with Shea Langeliers out for the season, has racked up a surprising four homers and 11 RBI in 15 games for the A’s. He had six homers and 20 RBI in 101 career games previously, with all of the homers coming at Coors Field during his time with the Rockies in 2022.

Perkins took over down 3-0 after Brady Basso struggled in the first, but he ended up leaving with the A’s on top 7-6. He struck out six and walked five, though two of those were intentional passes to Yordan Alvarez. The win is his first since Apr. 18, when he got one in relief for finishing off an 11-inning game. He’d been 0-9 since. He’ll likely face the Orioles on Saturday, probably again as a bulk guy.

Harris fanned Jose Altuve and Christian Walker in the one-run game. He has four saves, two blown saves that turned into losses and one hold in his nine appearances this month.

Javier struck out eight over four scoreless innings before giving up a single, a walk and a three-run homer to start the fifth, bringing a sudden end to had what started out as a promising performance. Javier has allowed 12 earned runs over 19 innings in four starts since moving into the rotation at the beginning of the month. All of those games turned into losses for the Astros. He might head back to the pen now with Mike Burrows due to return.