Fourteen in a row. The Red Sox streak is now the second-longest in franchise history, one win short of a club record that has stood since 1946.
Getting here required surviving most of the season first. Boston fired Alex Cora and the bulk of his coaching staff in April. By June 24 the club sat at 32-46, fifteen and a half games out in the American League East. In a normal year that’s the point where the roster starts getting inventoried for July.
The deficit is six now. Boston holds a wild card spot.
Fenway producing noise is not news. Fenway producing this kind of noise in this particular season is.
Monday’s 6-5 win over Baltimore was the loudest version of it. Caleb Durbin put the Red Sox ahead with a home run in the eighth, and the building came apart.
Durbin had been hitless in three at-bats to that point. Afterward he said he couldn’t really account for the trip around the bases, describing it as a moment where he lost track of what was happening and went with it. He also said he wasn’t sure the place could get louder than it did, then allowed that it probably would.
Willson Contreras reached for a larger comparison. The crowd took him back to the World Baseball Classic, the tournament he helped Venezuela win in March, and specifically to Willy Abreu’s home run against Japan. He also made a point of Durbin’s 0-for-3 start, arguing that an empty night at the plate matters less than staying clear-headed, because there’s no telling which at-bat turns into the one.
Interim manager Chad Tracy credited the bullpen for making the run sustainable. Every time Boston gave a lead back, he said, the relievers held the damage to a single run and left the offense a path. What he’s watching now is a group that walks in expecting to win.
“The dugout’s alive, and you still feel it in there,” Tracy said.
Boston gets its crack at the record Tuesday night, with Baltimore back at Fenway at 7:10.
