The Red Sox won Tuesday night, beating the Royals, 7-6, at a steamy Fenway Park. It was their fifth straight win and put Alex Cora's team two games ahead of second-place Tampa Bay.
You know what else happened? The bullpen carried them ... again.
This time it was 4 2/3 innings that the relievers were counted on for, with the group not allowing a single run while allowing for Major League Baseball-leading 27th come-from-behind victory.
It was the 34th time this season the Sox' bullpen has had to turn in four or more innings, with the team's record in such situations standing at a very digestible 21-13. (Conversely, the Yankees are 13-21 when asking their relievers to get 12 or more outs.)
This time the participants included Yacksel Rios (who may be turning out to be yet another valuable under-the-radar find by Chaim Bloom), Darwin Hernandez, Adam Ottavino, and, of course, Matt Barnes.
Those not partaking this time around include Josh Taylor, Hirokazu Sawamura, Matt Andriese, Brandon Workman and Garrett Whitlock.
As we sit here, every single one of those names either presently does, or has the potential to serve a purpose. That's something.
The Red Sox have landed at the end of June answering one of their biggest questions coming into 2021, that regarding the viability of the bullpen. It's good to be good. But what has made it really important to be really good is the fact that they are being to get half of the team's outs in about 40 percent of its games.
The route to get here hasn't been seamless, with some desperation to discover a bridge to Barnes before the emergence of Ottavino and Taylor. But consider what it has become. Since the June 13, 18-4 meltdown of a loss to the Blue Jays -- when Marwin Gonzalez and Christian Arroyo became part of the relief pitching fraternity -- the Sox relievers have a collective 2.15 ERA while allowing three of their 24 inherited runners to score.
And to sweeten the deal, the Red Sox have managed to find the very same dynamic the Yankees tried to throw money at in order to uncover. New York is paying two relievers -- Aroldis Chapman and Zack Britton -- a combined $29 million to find the kind of security the Sox are sitting with.
Oh, and two of those Red Sox go-to guys -- Ottavino and Whitlock -- they got from the Yankees for nothing but cash. Ooof!
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) June 30, 2021
All is well and good right now, which is Step 1. Now comes crunch-time. July, August and September.
Ryan Brasier expects to pitch at some point in July, even though he is still fighting off the impact of that 104 mph line-drive that left him with a concussion and a bunch of stitches in his right ear. The way he pitched last season, that would be helpful.
There will be some semblance of All-Star recognition, most likely involving Barnes but with the outside chance that Taylor and Whitlock will enter the conversation. Three guys in that sort of mix says something.
But if the starters remain on this innings roller coaster (although they do somewhat surprisingly sit with the fourth-most innings of any American League starting staff) prioritizing proven lock-down bullpen arms might be a very thing at the trade deadline.
In other words, a very real case can be made for punctuating the Red Sox' relief-pitching conversation with the acquisition of a player like Pittsburgh's Richard Rodriguez. He's the guy who is living life with a 1.78 ERA, .168 opponents batting average, 27 strikeouts and just three walks while throwing almost exclusively fastballs.
There are others. Detroit's Michael Fulmer, Texas' Ian Kennedy, or ... wait for it ... old friend Daniel Bard, who is serving as Colorado's closer.
For the time being, the Red Sox are living life with a pretty solid security blanket thanks to this bullpen. And for those dealing with pennant race angst, that should be a comforting notion.
