Michael Wacha explains his latest standout performance
Sometimes it takes a while for people to truly buy in. For instance, in 2013 it wasn't really until late August when the Red Sox took two of three against the Dodgers out in Los Angeles in late August for New England baseball fans to officially start wrapping their arms around that contending team.
Friday night at Fenway Park went a long way toward start the same sort of embrace for this year's edition of the Red Sox.
The 6-5 win over the Cardinals had its caveats. The Red Sox almost blew a five-run lead in the ninth, with Tanner Houck stranding the potential game-tying run at second base. And if the season ended today, the Sox would be on the outside looking in when it comes to the Wild Card race, sitting 1/2 game back both the Guardians and Rays.
But there was something about this win that put a significant dent in the naysayers.
“We're doing a lot of good things," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "That last inning, it got interesting but you expect that against them. They play just like us, until the last out. They put some good at-bats, we put ourselves in bad situations to get that 27th out, but overall, we ran the bases well, we played great defense, we pitched well. Like I’ve been saying all along, we have a good baseball team, we do. Where we’re at is where we’re at. We won a lot of games to get to this point. We didn’t start the season the way we wanted and I said it all along, we have to work very hard to get to the point that we are in the conversation and I think we are. We’re playing good baseball. We’re playing really good baseball."
For starters, the Red Sox find themselves a season-high five games over .500. And they reached such heights by beating one of the National League's best starters (Adam Wainwright) and a first-place team (the Cardinals).
When it comes to getting to Wainwright, the four runs put up against the Cardinals' longtime ace matched his season high, raising the righty's ERA to 3.06.
Then there was the punctuation applied by Michal Wacha.
One of the Red Sox' best stories only got better with the starter lowering his ERA to 2.28 by allowing just one run over 5 1/3 innings. It was the sixth time this season he has gone five or more innings while giving up one or fewer runs. He has surrendered two runs or less in nine of his 11 starts.
Simply put, Wacha has officially become one of the best starters in the American League.
Only seven A.L. starters with as many as 11 starters have a better ERA than Wacha, who has struck out 41, walked just 17 and seen the Red Sox go 8-3 in his starts. It has all been a powerful piece of a puzzle that has seen Sox starters carry a 1.87 ERA over their last 16 outings.
Another significant surprise that kept trending in the right direction was reliever John Schreiber, who turned in perhaps the most clutch performance of the night. He first came on with two on and one out in the sixth inning and stranded both runners before pitching a flawless seventh.
In 18 of his 19 outings this season, Schreiber hasn't allowed a single earned run.
John Schreiber explains his remarkable success
There were other signs of continued encouragement. Trevor Story's defense. ("I can say that probably he’s the best defensive second baseman in the big leagues," Cora said.) Xander Bogaerts managing three hits for a major league-leading 11th time this season. And Bobby Dalbec's pinch-hit double in the seventh, making him 3-for-7 in pinch-hit opportunities this season.
The Red Sox continue to trend in the right direction, even with an actual good team standing in their way. It was a night worth taking note of.