The Red Sox lost three of four games against the Yankees in the Bronx over the weekend and still arrived at Fenway Park on Monday with a 97.5 percent chance of making the playoffs.
The American League pennant race is more of a pennant jog this season. Five teams with losing records are within 5½ games of a wild-card berth, and the AL West winner might be lucky to finish .500.
It helps explain why the Red Sox are playing the long game with four weeks left in the season.
As the Globe’s Tim Healey first reported, Sonny Gray will skip his start Tuesday and not pitch again until Saturday in Baltimore. The Sox feel a 10-day break will benefit the 36-year-old righthander.
Gray generally prefers to pitch every five days, something the Sox have gone along with for much of the season. But interim manager Chad Tracy said Monday that the plan all along was to build in a break. That also was the thinking behind placing Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list before the game with a strained left hamstring.
Contreras has been picking his spots when to run hard over the last few weeks. One such occasion came Saturday against the Yankees, when he had an RBI triple in the eighth inning. That left the first baseman moving cautiously Sunday, and he left the game after the sixth inning.
If the Sox were clinging to a playoff spot, Contreras probably would have been in the lineup Monday against the Mariners. Instead, they were cautious with the player who has been their best hitter this season.
But being smart doesn’t mean conceding.
The two freshest players on the roster, Roman Anthony and Trevor Story, delivered the latest Fenway Park thriller, a 10-inning, 9-8 victory against the Mariners.
Story delivered the game-winner with a 105.2-mile-per-hour rocket to center field that scored Eli White from third base with one out.
The Sox tied the game in the ninth when Anthony tripled and scored on a shallow fly ball to left field by Ceddanne Rafaela. It was his third RBI of the game.
Anthony and Story were activated Sunday after long stints on the injured list. Their presence was a source of consternation for some fans who believed the team should have stuck with the role players who performed so well in their absence.
That Story hit .171 in 10 Triple-A games during a rehab assignment was a particular sticking point, never mind that he was one of the team’s best players last season.
Anthony is since 4 for 8 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs scored. Story also is 4 for 8, with two doubles and three RBIs.
“They look really good, really good,” Tracy said.
Story, who tends to keep his emotions in check, couldn’t help but smile afterward.
“It was special for sure,” he said. “It’s a lot of work behind the scenes and a lot of work from a lot of different people. For me and my family, pretty special for sure. Just happy. Happy we got the win.”
The game-winning at-bat against Cooper Criswell was a one-act drama. With a runner on third, Seattle manager Dan Wilson intentionally walked Caleb Durbin and Jarren Duran to load the bases.
Criswell’s first three pitches were well off the plate and the sellout crowd was screaming in anticipation of a walkoff walk.
Story took a strike, then swung through a sinker. Criswell left the next sinker over the plate, and Story’s line drive one-hopped the wall in center.
He flipped his bat, flung his helmet, and the celebration was on.
Story had proven the doubters wrong.
“Only I know when I’m ready and when it’s time to go,” he said. “It’s hard to explain. But I think the atmosphere, the energy, the game-planning — all that goes into it.”
Anthony was particularly thrilled for Story, having gone through the rehab process with him.
“I was so happy for him. Every at-bat, he just continues to look better and better,” he said. “He continues to trust himself through all the noise.”
The Sox did two things right Monday. They played it safe with their roster decisions with the future in mind, then they won the game a few hours later. That can be tough to do, but Story made it happen.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.