The return of Eck
Remember that feeling after the Red Sox lost a second straight game to the Rockies? Yup. Between the standings sink-hole they had seemingly stepped in and the uneasiness around the Matt Dermody drama, this was setting up for a long summer.
Monday Alex Cora and his team woke up in a different lot in life, one they seemingly hadn't been afforded since winning four straight in late May to go six games over .500.
After taking both games of a doubleheader against the Yankees at Fenway Park for the first time since 1976 - sweeping the teams' three-game series - the Sox now find themselves just two games out of the final Wild Card spot, And, more importantly, look the like the superior team to at least one of the clubs (the Aaron Judge-less Yankees) they are chasing.
The postgame notes laundry list of optimism after the nightcap's 4-1 victory should have highlight script-flipping:
- Have won each of their last four games, their longest winning streak since 5/16-20 (also 4 games)...Are 6-3 in their last 9 games and 9-8 since the start of June.
- Have outscored opponents 31-11 over their last 4 games, batting .338 (46-for-136) with 21 XBH and posting a 2.25 ERA (9 ER/36.0 IP) in that span.
- Relievers did not allow a run in 8.2 innings during today's doubleheader...They have allowed seven earned runs in 33.1 IP (1.89 ERA) over the Sox' last nine games.
- Starters have a 3.47 ERA in their 29 starts since 5/17 (56 ER/145.1 IP)...They have allowed two ER or fewer in 21 of those 29 games.
"They have a good team. They'll be there in the hunt and we want to be where they were last year,” Cora said. “Just the whole environment last weekend was good over there, and tonight, this doubleheader was great. So I think the kids are doing an amazing job the last two weekends. Now, we’ve just got to turn the page and be ready for tomorrow."
It's impossible to completely buy-in considering this roller coaster the Red Sox have been on since that early-May eight-game win streak. But it certainly does feel a bit different considering the recent evolution of some of their most important players.
Starter Brayan Bello, for instance, is emerging into the kind of pitcher Pedro Martinez told us was around the corner. He now has a 2.60 ERA in his last nine starts after going seven innings against the Yankees and surrendering just one run. There hasn't been one of those contests where Bello has allowed more than six hits or three runs. (It also doesn't help perception in these parts that the young righty boasts a 1.44 ERA in four career starts against the Yankees.)
But it's not just Bello.
Jarren Duran. Triston Casas. Justin Turner. Masa Yoshida. And even the shortstop we have been at least somewhat underrating, Pablo Reyes. They all played the part that the Red Sox desperately needed them to play over the weekend, both with the bats and the gloves.
This could take a turn. It certainly has before. That last time the Red Sox won four in a row they proceeded to drop four straight and weren't able to take more than two in a row until this current stretch.
And then there is the starting rotation conundrum, with the Sox seemingly without Tanner Houck for a good period due to his face fracture after being hit by a line-drive Friday night. That leaves Bello, James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, and the unknown, with few viable options sitting down in Triple-A.
But the good news for the Red Sox is that they have legitimately re-entered the kind of conversation teams are starving for this time of year. They are, as we sit here, contenders.
Was it because the Yankees were so bad, or the Red Sox had suddenly found their way. This week in Minnesota and Chicago will go a long way to defining that reality. But it sure does feel different than about five days ago.