The Red Sox begin their next series on Monday on a real hot streak.
Four straight wins over the Yankees, including a dramatic walkoff in extra innings Sunday on national television, have changed the vibe surrounding the Red Sox a bit.
However, Monday brings a new challenge: facing one of the hottest hitters in the National League. Nationals first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. hit two home runs and drove in five runs Sunday to lead Washington to a 6-4 road victory over Baltimore. Garcia has homered in five of his last six games.
“I can’t describe it right now,” Garcia said through an interpreter after Sunday’s victory. “Everybody sees that my confidence is just at another level, and I think that’s something every batter wants to have.”
The first baseman has three multi-homer games this season.
“Super impressive,” Washington starting pitcher Zack Littell said. “It gets hidden a little bit behind CJ [Abrams] and James [Wood], and that also makes him that much more dangerous [because] guys probably don’t put as much stock into facing him as they should.”
Here’s a preview of Monday’s series opener.
Lineups
NATIONALS (43-42): Wood LF, Chaparro DH, Mead 3B, Abrams SS, Crews RF, Young CF, Garcia Jr. 1B, Nuñez 2B, Ruiz C
Pitching: RHP Miles Mikolas (2-6, 5.24 ERA)
RED SOX (36-46): Yoshida DH, Rafaela CF, Abreu RF, Contreras 1B, Duran LF, Durbin 3B, Seigler 2B, Narváez C, Cheng SS
Pitching: LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83 ERA)
Time: 7:10 p.m.
TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
Nationals vs. Suarez: CJ Abrams 0-9, Andrés Chaparro 0-3, Dylan Crews 1-4, Luis García Jr. 1-8, Nasim Nuñez 0-3, Keibert Ruiz 1-8, James Wood 1-5, Jacob Young 3-5
Red Sox vs. Mikolas: Wilyer Abreu 2-3, Willson Contreras 7-19, Jarren Duran 1-9, Caleb Durbin 4-7, Romy González 1-2, Andruw Monasterio 1-5, Carlos Narváez 1-2, Ceddanne Rafaela 2-4, Connor Wong 0-2, Masataka Yoshida 0-3
Stat of the day: Garcia Jr. is 10-for-19 (.526) with six home runs, nine RBIs, two doubles, three walks, and eight runs scored in his last six games.
Notes: After losing Friday to Baltimore, the Nationals bounced back to defeat the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday. ... On Sunday, the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the 10th after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the ninth and allowing New York to take a 4-2 lead in the 10th. Jarren Duran provided the game-winning hit when his single drove in Masataka Yoshida to break a 4-4 tie. ... Nationals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas is 1-1 with a 6.59 ERA in three career starts against Boston. He allowed 17 hits in 13⅔ innings. ... Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez is 8-2 with a 3.98 ERA in 17 career games (10 starts) against Washington.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.
Matt Pepin can be reached at matt.pepin@globe.com.