Roman Anthony, not close to returning, can only watch his resurgent teammates from a distance

With the Red Sox amidst their longest winning streak in 78 years, players are delighting in the magic carpet ride. But outfielder Roman Anthony, who has missed 11 weeks due to a partial tear of the ligament at the base of his right ring finger, has been left to watch the mid-year resurgence from afar.

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The 22-year-old is in Fort Myers, still unable to swing a bat. The roughly 1,500-mile separation is unwanted.

“He sees what’s going on. He badly wants to be here,” said Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “[But] we have to make sure he’s right when he comes back.”

How to get there? Tracy said the Sox want Anthony to be pain-free when he starts swinging, a threshold he hasn’t reached.

“We’re not going to resume hitting if there’s still discomfort in the hand,” said Tracy, who’s been in touch with the outfielder. “That’s a big piece of our lineup. It would be great to get him back. The whole point is we don’t want our player, that player, to play injured, especially when it comes to swinging the bat. So, just continuing to get him to where he feels very confident in his mind that that hand feels good. That’s our goal.”

Tracy was unsure whether Anthony’s ligament has healed to the point where there’s no risk of reinjury. But even if that’s the case, the team doesn’t want Anthony to start a hitting progression until he doesn’t need to think about the injury.

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“This guy can really hit, and [he needs his] hand to hit. I fully support him,” said Tracy. “We don’t want players in the box if they’re not confident that they should be out there. There’s a lot of components to it that go beyond just [medical] scans.”

Ranger Suarez, who went on the injured list with a left groin strain just before the All-Star break, felt fine after throwing a bullpen session on Sunday morning. The Sox will check in Monday to determine whether Suarez (4-3, 3.15 ERA in 17 starts) can start on Tuesday against the Orioles, or if he might need a couple of days.

“We’re definitely getting close,” Tracy said.

Connelly Early, who’s been on the IL with left elbow inflammation since July 1, has extended his throwing program to 90 feet on flat ground. A standard progression would have him move up to 105 and then 120 feet on flat ground before he starts throwing off a mound, with a need to throw multiple bullpen sessions before facing hitters in live batting practice, rehab games, or both. It’s likely he’ll be out until at least August.

“He’s got to work his way back [to the mound],” said Tracy. “He’s doing fine. Just, his [rehab] is going to take just a touch longer [than Suarez’s].”

Willson Contreras entered Sunday with 193 regular-season homers, including 33 to the opposite field. The ability for the righthanded masher to crush pitches to the right of center has been a distinguishing trait since his first day in the big leagues. But of his first 21 homers this year, just one had been to the right of center. “[Suarez] was joking with me the other day that I haven’t hit an oppo homer,” said Contreras. “I said, ‘It’s going to come. I don’t know when.’” It came on Sunday. Contreras drilled a two-run homer beyond the Red Sox bullpen in right-center, becoming the first Sox righthanded hitter this year with an opposite-field homer at Fenway. “That’s a reminder to Ranger,” said Contreras. … Isiah Kiner-Falefa (on the IL since June 20) and Marcelo Mayer (June 26), sidelined by stress reactions in their left forearms, will meet with a hand specialist for follow-up scans on Monday … Trevor Story, out since May 15 with a sports hernia, is increasing the intensity of his baseball activities, but is still experiencing soreness from lateral mobility drills. Once he gets past that soreness, he and the team will consider a rehab assignment.

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