All good things must come to an end.
For the Boston Red Sox, that meant the end of a franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak.
The quest for a new streak begins on Friday night as the Toronto Blue Jays enter for the start of a three-game weekend series.
“All of us knew that it was going to end at some point. It just happened to end (on Wednesday),” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said after a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the second game of a doubleheader. “The big thing is if we continue to play baseball that way, regardless of how many wins in a row, we’re going to win a heck of a lot more than we lose.”
To say the least, it was a season-turning stretch for Tracy’s group, which went from 37-48 then to 52-49 now. Before Wednesday night, the Red Sox had not lost since July 1, and they were 20-2 since completing a four-game sweep of the archrival New York Yankees on June 28.
Before Tracy could even speak to his team at the end of the streak, veterans Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray took the lead in addressing the clubhouse, imparting a message that matched that of their skipper.
“We can beat anybody. That’s lesson No. 1,” Contreras said. “We are a good team in the battles. We are resilient and a team that sits together, winning or losing. … There’s nothing to be sad about. We have to be happy. We should be proud of what we did.”
The past few weeks have seen Contreras break out to the tune of a .381 average with 13 RBIs in 12 July games. The first baseman had three hits in the Wednesday twin bill, with the nightcap being Boston’s first game scoring fewer than two runs since June 30.
The Red Sox will give the ball on Friday to left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who remains in search of his first win in his third start since returning from a two-year absence following Tommy John surgery. Sandoval (0-0, 4.82 ERA) was touched for five runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
Sandoval has faced the Blue Jays twice in his career, posting a 6.00 ERA and no decisions in nine innings.
The red-hot run has the Red Sox sitting in third place in the American League East, now six games ahead of the bottom-dwelling Blue Jays.
Toronto arrives in Boston having broken a four-game skid with a 3-1 Thursday afternoon win over first-place Tampa Bay. It was just the second victory for the Blue Jays in a nine-game span.
Shane Bieber dealt seven innings of one-run ball in his second consecutive strong start, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer both had two hits and an RBI.
“Today we played a complete game,” Springer said. “We pitched. We got guys on (the bases), over and in, and we caught the ball, so it was a good day for us, but it’s on to (Friday), and that’s against another extremely good team.”
Trey Yesavage (4-5, 3.78 ERA) will look to keep the Blue Jays on the right track. The 22-year-old right-hander took a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday despite logging a season-high nine strikeouts over six innings of three-run ball.
Yesavage, who made his major league debut last September, has gotten his first taste of the Red Sox this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two head-to-head starts, recording a home win on April 28 with 5 1/3 shutout innings before working 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball in a June 18 no-decision at Boston.
–Field Level Media
