They stumbled over the finish line, but the Red Sox will finally get a chance to catch their breath.
The Red Sox wrapped up the longest stretch of games they’ll play all season on a sour note, losing Wednesday’s rubber game with the Baltimore Orioles 6-2. The club now enters its first off day after 19 straight games with a 13-13 record, good for last in the AL East but also only one game behind the Yankees for the last playoff spot pending Wednesday’s late Houston-Tampa Bay result.
How should people feel about where the club is at?
First, the positives. Coming into this week’s series in Baltimore the Red Sox had won three straight series, two of those against first-place clubs. More than half of their losses also came in a pair of sweeps against the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates, who entering Wednesday had the two best records in baseball and were a combined 36-12.
Outside of those series the Red Sox are 13-6 and have shown they can compete with some of the better clubs in the league. They’ve also already won four games in which they trailed after the seventh inning, which according to Red Sox communications matches their total from all of 2022.
The Red Sox have managed to tread water despite also being decimated by injuries, especially up the middle. Trevor Story (elbow surgery) has yet to play, newly signed center fielder Adam Duvall, who got off to a monster start, was lost after only a week with a broken wrist, and back-up shortstops Adalberto Mondesi (ACL rehab) and now Yu Chang (broken hamate) are both on the injured list as well.
The pitching staff has also been hit hard by the injury bug, but as the Red Sox start getting guys back they should be better positioned to make a push.
That being said it’s going to be a while before the Red Sox are anywhere near full strength and the road doesn’t get any easier from here. The AL East is as strong as predicted and nearly a month into the season all five clubs are at .500 or above.
“Every team now has taken a step forward and hopefully we’re there, too,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after Wednesday’s loss. “Just got to keep grinding. It’s 162 and I think we’ve done an outstanding job in 19 straight games.”
The Red Sox haven’t seen Toronto or New York yet, but so far the club is only 3-7 against AL East opponents and all available evidence suggests Boston is still the worst team in the division. Even with MLB’s new balanced schedule that’s a tough position to be in, and the fact that Boston might be the second best team in the AL Central or third best in most other divisions is of small consolation.
At the end of the day the Red Sox top priority needs to be staying in the hunt. After the off-day Boston will open a seven-game homestand with three against Cleveland and four against Toronto before hitting the road for three against defending National League champion Philadelphia and two against top championship contender Atlanta.
That’s a dangerous stretch, and there’s risk that by the time Boston welcomes St. Louis to Fenway Park over Mother’s Day weekend the club could be in a deep hole.
If the Red Sox are still hanging around .500 by mid-May, then you could start talking yourself into some encouraging scenarios, especially as Duvall and Mondesi are both nearing returns. If not, the vibe around this club could quickly turn south, and with no bottom-feeders in sight the Red Sox will have to fight for every inch if they hope to survive.
Tanner Houck wasn’t necessarily bad in Wednesday’s series finale, but his stuff wasn’t as nasty as usual and the Orioles pounced on every opportunity they got.
The bulk of the damage came in the fourth, when Baltimore hit Houck with three straight singles to start the inning and eventually scored three on a Ramon Urias RBI single, a Cedric Mullins RBI infield single and an Adley Rutschman sacrifice fly. Overall, Houck allowed four runs (three earned) over five innings, giving up seven hits and two walks while striking out two. He also only drew six whiffs on 45 swings, far less than typical for him.
“They got some pitches in the zone, put the ball in play and had that rally but overall it was five good innings,” Cora said. “He threw a lot of strikes with quality stuff, some days are going to be like that.”
Orioles starter Tyler Wells was excellent, allowing two runs over 5.2 strong innings while allowing four hits and a walk and striking out seven. The bullpen followed him up with 3.1 scoreless innings, and all Boston managed offensively was a Masataka Yoshida solo shot in the second and a Justin Turner RBI single in the sixth.
The Red Sox (13-13) open their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians (12-13) on Friday at 7:10 p.m. Nick Pivetta (1-1, 4.58 ERA) is slated to take the mound against Shane Bieber (1-1, 3.23).