The celebratory laundry cart rides are becoming commonplace for Red Sox infielder Trevor Story, who hit five homers and drove in 13 runs in Boston’s four-game sweep of Seattle over the weekend. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a baseball season.
The Boston Red Sox spent the day off Monday in Chicago, basking in the glow of a five-game winning streak. The short three-game trip to the Midwest comes on the heels of a 6-1 homestand that culminated in a pulsating four-game sweep of Seattle at Fenway.
The Red Sox checked off a lot of boxes during the course of the homestand. They picked up their first extra-inning win of the year Sunday when Franchy Cordero hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning. It was their first walk-off win of the season, and their first series sweep.
The winning streak has washed away the stench of a 10-19 start that had fans wondering who would be traded away as the Sox limped toward midseason and the MLB trade deadline. The past week has been similar to the nine-game winning streak the Sox put together last April on the heels of a shocking sweep by the Baltimore Orioles to open the season at Fenway.
Wiping away a bad weekend is one thing. Digging out of a 30-game stretch where a team played .367 baseball is another. There are two ways to get out of that: you either have to win a lot of series, taking 2 of 3 over a long span of time, or go on a tear.
The Red Sox started by chipping away at their deficit, with series wins in Texas and back home against Houston. Then they took advantage of a struggling Mariners team to make their move.
Now it’s off to Chicago for three games before they return home for Memorial Day weekend. That begins a stretch where the Sox can take advantage of the schedule with five-games against the last-place Baltimore Orioles and two against the Cincinnati Reds, the team with the worst record in baseball.
It threatened to get late early for the Red Sox this season, but this recent stretch has turned things around for Boston. The New York Yankees are threatening to run away from the division, but the newly expanded playoff format means the Red Sox have more than enough time to recover from their early season struggles.
The biggest difference of late has been the power. The Sox hit just 12 home runs in April, tied for fourth fewest in baseball. They’ve already hit 22 in May — and there are still nine games remaining in the month.
The long-awaited emergence of Trevor Story has revitalized Boston’s lineup. Story tied the club record when he hit three home runs to help the Red Sox rally from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Mariners on Thursday. He drove in 13 runs during the series, and leads the team in RBI.
For much of this season the Red Sox were led by the Big Three. Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez have been the most potent trio in the game this season. Often they have had to provide virtually all the offense for the Sox. Now, there is more depth to the lineup, making this a tough team to pitch against.
This isn’t a perfect team. Not by a long shot. Sunday’s walk-off became necessary when Hansel Robles gave up a tying home run to Eugenio Suárez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. It was Boston’s MLB-leading 11th blown save of the season, a reminder that the pitching staff is still a work in progress.
The Red Sox will need to address that before too long, but thanks to Cordero no one was thinking about blown saves as they hit the road. They were thinking one simple thought. A thought their manager summed up succinctly.
“Winning’s better than losing,” Manager Alex Cora said as his team packed its bags Sunday night.
The Red Sox are winning. If they keep it up, they can be back at .500 by the end of the month. And we’ll have a baseball season to enjoy.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN and a graduate of Lewiston High School.
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