Rafael Devers crushed a seat about 400 feet from home plate, and Jarren Duran turned a routine 12-hopper to center field into a double to start the first-half finale on Sunday. Ceddanne Rafaela, who started the first seven innings of the game at shortstop, ended it by throwing Kansas City’s Garrett Hampson out at third base from center field.
That isn’t a perfect portrayal, though. When Duran took the mound, Brayan Bello’s fourth pitch went over the bullpens, giving the Royals an early lead. And after Rafaela’s missile, Kenley Jansen still had a mess to tidy up. With lightning speed, he did, leaving the tying run on second base to record his first six-out save of the regular season.
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I believe you will overlook the small errors. These Red Sox have undoubtedly ventured into “write the legend” area, if only briefly.
After the 5-4 triumph, Jansen told reporters, “These young boys started to believe, and it’s about to get dangerous.”
“Our objectives go beyond simply enjoying a successful start to the season. We aim to catch up to the lead in the East, which is four and a half games away,” manager Alex Cora retorted. “All of the chatter about the wild card and how it should have happened earlier. Let’s aim high and observe the results.
My first thought is to look for the global symbol for “hold your horses,” but guess what? The All-Star break is underway. You have four days to let out your hair, pop some beers, and grumble about those tacky outfits.
We have the Dodgers on Friday. Except for that Phillies/Yankees homestand, these tenacious upstarts still don’t feel like they can compete with the best players. Their design does not allow for coasting, and any slip will result in an instant, “Well, enjoy yourself while it lasts.”
That is the issue for Friday. This is an occasion to rejoice over the rarest of things: the unexpected story. The group that can use the line “nobody believed in us” without seeming overly dramatic.
AD: A Red Sox team with a roof, but one with a skylight that lets in a lot of natural light.
Boston’s postseason odds, as determined by Fangraphs, surpassed 50% for the first time throughout the weekend. The old expression went, “More likely than not.” These odds are still the seventh-best in the AL, with Seattle and Houston still far ahead and New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Minnesota clearly a step above.
Take the excellent; it’s all pointless anyway. Once they start playing the games, being here won’t signify much, but that doesn’t erase the fact that they weren’t supposed to sniff here in the first place. The most kind spring ideas were that, with Lucas Giolito, Trevor Story, Garrett Whitlock, Triston Casas, and Vaughn Grissom, they were the only team out of four to make the playoffs.
Without them?
How did we return here?
44 players total, from Masataka Yoshida to Wilyer Abreu. It’s not really a noteworthy figure; five teams with records at least as good as Boston’s 53-42 have better than the league average of 42. There have been five MLB debuts, with Cam Booser and Justin Slaten leading the way, but once more… Cleveland and the Dodgers have made six, Houston seven, and Milwaukee nine.
Are you shocked by this? I doubt it. All season long, these Red Sox have exuded a feeling of being more than the sum of their parts. Cora frequently reminds them that they are learning on the job. Almost every inning, Duran reminds them that they are playing free.
ADVERTISEMENT: There are so many memories—so many that, to be honest, we’ve all forgotten some.
With two outs, Connor Wong is hitting.378 and has an OPS of.993 when there are men in scoring position. When it matters most, Abreu is not far behind with an overall.924 score.
Romy Gonzalez is out of the game. In 38 of the previous 50 games, David Hamilton has started and amassed 23 steals without much defensive mishap. Despite hitting.220 since the beginning of May, Tyler O’Neill is still in the top 15% of all major power percentages (barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and projected slugging) because of his disastrous start.
Rob Refsnyder is a cunning team leader, and Masataka Yoshida, Dom Smith, and others have all contributed. (Yoshida’s stats this month: two home runs, 11 RBI,.302/.348/.465)
The sales pitching? Its plaudits were unwavering when it was the greatest staff in baseball in April, but following a slump, it returned to rank sixth in ERA in July (3.41). Choose your favorite digits, but for now, here’s mine: After Bello and Nick Pivetta pitched in the sixth inning on Saturday and Kutter Crawford pitched seven on Sunday, Bello completed a full circuit of six-inning starts.
It’s possible that the week off for the All-Star Game contributed, but none of the five players overachieved—Pivetta had the most pitches with 105. They have proven their abilities and gained our trust.
They are now beginning to live up to the hype of being a hot start.
The Red Sox played a lot of friendly games, but one in particular stood out to me on Sunday. It was the sixth consecutive rubber game win for Boston, and it made the difference between winning and losing a series. This season, they’ve had 12 of them and have won 10.
Advertisement: It should come as no surprise as NESN has given credence to the “15-1 on Sundays” statistic, which suggests a number of victories during certain windows of time. But it serves as a reminder that these Red Sox consistently take advantage of their opportunities to score.
Teams with a strong two-out-of-three record typically play until October. Pitching strong teams are also hot teams. Not a very enlightening thing to say there.
However, the combination of all these different elements results in the one word that describes the 2024 Red Sox: Something.
They possess something. One thing is how they are learning, and another is how they are succeeding. Something that was reserved for the sickos at the start of the season during the sedateness of a West Coast vacation, but for whom the bar of success is gradually rising with each new series.
Accepting the task simply makes it bigger. It’s incredible that even in the sweltering summer months, seeing this bunch attempt to navigate through them is still thrilling.
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