Wilyer Abreu (leg) returns to lineup on Sunday

Abreu receives some extra time off to recover after being hit by a pitch above his shin guard during Friday’s game. It was a bit surprising to see him on the initial lineup card in the first place with rookie left-hander Gage Jump taking the ball for the Athletics. The 27-year-old has put together a phenomenal season, slashing .256/.331/.462 with 20 homers, 62 RBI and seven steals in 429 plate appearances over 113 games. It’ll be Eli White moving over to right field with Jarren Duran getting into the lineup in the opposite corner. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Abreu missed a homer to Fenway’s short fence in right field by about two or three feet, settling for a two-RBI double. He was replaced by Eli White in the sixth inning as a defensive sub, but the game was already out of hand at that point so we don’t suspect anything bad happened here. Abreu is red-hot, hitting .385/.485/.885 with four homers and a stolen base in his last seven games. Ride the wave if you have him in fantasy baseball.

Abreu’s home run was his 20th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Sean Burke in the third inning. Abreu now has nine home runs in 19 games since the All-Star break. He’s hitting .254 with a .787 OPS and 57 RBI.

Abreu has eight homers and three two-homer games in 18 games since the break, even though he’s batting just .200 during the span (14-for-70). He’s three homers away from matching last year’s total, which seems good, but then he’s already had 71 more plate appearances than he did then, since he’s avoided the IL and he’s starting regularly against lefties.

Both homers were two-run shots off lefties. The first helped knock Ian Seymour out of the game after three. The second came after the Rays inserted Garrett Cleavinger to face him in the seventh. That homer made it a 7-6 game and concluded the scoring for the day. Abreu had four two-homer games last season, but he was without one this year until the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. He has 15 homers on the year, and he ended the game with an .800 OPS for the first time since May 24. The win was Boston’s 12th straight, and the Red Sox are now back over .500 for the first time since winning on Opening Day.

Abreu went deep off of Rays starter Mason Englert in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 2-2. Abreu would take Englert deep again in the third inning to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead after the Rays had briefly tied the game, pushing his home run total to 13 on the season. He’s hitting on .234 in the month of July, but Abreu is enjoying a bit of a power surge, as seven of his 11 hits on the month have gone for extra bases.

Abreu put this game to bed with a two-run homer in the ninth inning that stretched the Red Sox’s lead out to five runs and put the finishing touches on this stellar game. He’s now hit safely in eight of his last 10 games and is hoping to turn some of that contact into power with this being his first home run since June 23rd.

Abreu put the Red Sox on the board early, knocking a triple to drive in a run in the first inning. He then drew a walk in the third and stole second before extending the Boston lead with a solo homer off Sean Sullivan in the fifth inning. The 27-year-old outfielder is slashing .279/.344/.452 with 10 homers, 35 runs scored, 38 RBI, and six steals across 324 plate appearances.

It’s an extremely rare day off for Abreu, who has started 73 of 74 games to open the season. His last day off was on April 15. The 26-year-old slugger mashed a two-run homer, his ninth long ball of the season, during Saturday’s win at T-Mobile Park. It’ll be Nate Eaton getting a look in right field in his place on Sunday afternoon.

Abreu’s homer was a 416-footer to dead center, giving him nine on the season. At .275/.334/.433, he’s been a pretty average this season, but against all expectations, he has a .921 OPS against lefties and just a .707 OPS versus righties. Most likely, the OPS versus lefties will tumble, but some improvement versus righties should counter that and keep him useful in mixed leagues.