At times, the play of the Red Sox was as messy as the weather that delayed Tuesday night’s contest with the Braves for an hour and 40 minutes.
From running into just the second 8-3-5 triple-play in MLB history (And the first since 1884), to some suspect decisions on the basepaths, it wasn’t always pretty for the Sox, but they got the job done with a 7-1 victory over the best team in baseball.
Nick Pivetta delivered with another phenomenal outing out of the bullpen, tossing five scoreless innings, and retiring 14 of the 18 batters he faced. Through 17 appearances in relief, Pivetta now has a 1.98 ERA.
“He’s an animal out of the bullpen,” Justin Turner said of Piveta postgame.
With the win, the Red Sox advanced to 14-5 since June 30th, which is good for the best record in baseball over that span. Boston also tied their season-high mark of seven games over .500.
“We’re playing the right brand of baseball at the right time,” Adam Duvall said postgame.
With the MLB trade deadline less than a week away, time is running out on the “Buy-or-sell" conversation, and the timing couldn’t be any better for the Red Sox.
For a vast majority of the season the Red Sox were stuck in mediocrity, hovering around the .500 mark, but as evidenced by their aforementioned seven games over .500, that is no longer the case.
Tuesday night’s win served as another reminder that it may not always be pretty, but the Red Sox have proven they can be a good team.
This is something the Red Sox have seemingly felt internally for awhile now. Back in early July, Kenley Jansen told Rob Bradford on the ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ podcast that he felt that the Red Sox had a “Good team” and were “Only a few pieces away.”
When you look at how the Red Sox have played, especially recently, it’s hard to argue against Jansen.
Despite being forced to play multiple bullpen games a week for much of the last month, Boston still holds the best record in the American League since June 14th at 21-12, as they sit just a game and a half out of a Wild Card spot with 61 games remaining in the season.
The Red Sox have established themselves right in the thick of the AL playoff hunt and it should leave Chaim Bloom no other choice but to add at the trade deadline. This Red Sox team may not be as far away as people may think, and if they can bring in some help at the trade deadline, we may get a glimpse of how good they can be.
