Just a few weeks ago, the 2026 Red Sox were making franchise history for all the wrong reasons. Today, they’re entering the record books for a stretch of dominance Boston hasn’t seen in 80 years.
With a 6-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox tied the franchise record with their 15th consecutive victory, matching a mark last reached by the 1946 club. It’s only the 17th winning streak of at least 15 games in the last century and the longest in Major League Baseball since the Cardinals won 17 straight in 2021.
“You’re talking about a franchise that’s been around for a very long time, so it’s an amazing thing. They should relish that,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Your names are going to be forever etched right at the top of that list for what they’ve done. Believe me, I know I’ve kept it pretty low key, but that’s not lost on us what they’ve done. But we’ve got to keep going.”
It was more of the same for the Red Sox, who also secured their fifth consecutive series victory for the first time since 2022.
The offense wasted little time, scoring four runs on five hits in the first inning, tied for its highest-scoring opening frame of the season. Boston finished with six runs on nine hits, with six different players recording a hit. Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin and Ceddanne Rafaela each collected multiple hits.
Boston has now scored at least four runs in 13 of the 15 games during its winning streak. Going back even further, the Red Sox have scored at least four runs in 20 of their last 24 games.
In the fourth inning, Rafaela launched his ninth home run of the season over the Green Monster. It marked the 13th game during the winning streak that the Red Sox have homered, and the eighth time they’ve hit multiple home runs during that stretch.
Boston’s offense has totaled 88 runs over its 15-game win streak, the fifth-most in MLB over that stretch.
The offense did its part early, and the pitching staff took care of the rest.
Despite allowing a career-high nine hits, Jake Bennett limited the damage to three earned runs over his outing while striking out four without issuing a walk. The 25-year-old generated 14 swings and misses, throwing 64 of his 83 pitches (77.1%) for strikes.
Bennett earned his fifth consecutive victory, becoming the fifth pitcher in Red Sox history to record a winning decision in at least five straight games within his first 10 career appearances and the first to do so since Aaron Sele in 1993.
“He was outstanding,” Tracy said of Bennett. “There were some spots there that he had to work through, but just a really, really good outing. I mean, the first 30 pitches, he threw almost every pitch for a strike. He set the tone, and obviously getting the four runs in the first inning and giving him some cushion, letting him work with that with the back end looming was awesome. It was a great effort.”
The dominant trio of Justin Slaten (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K), Garrett Whitlock (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K) and Aroldis Chapman took it from there, allowing just three baserunners while retiring nine of the 12 batters they faced. Chapman recorded the 390th save of his career, tying Dennis Eckersley for ninth on the all-time saves list.
The Red Sox now have a chance to stand alone in franchise history. A win in Game 2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader (7:10 p.m.) would make the 2026 Red Sox the first team in franchise history to win 16 consecutive games.
