Xander Bogaerts has found his swing while hitting second in the lineup over the past seven contests. (Photo by Kelly O’Connor via SittingStill.smugmug.com)
The Boston Red Sox are now 27-29 on the season after a perfect 7-0 week. The win on Monday ended a 10-game losing streak in which the Red Sox pitching was subpar and the hitting with runners in scoring position barely happened. Over the past week, the Red Sox pitching has really been the story, but the team is starting to hit with runners on base, which is leading to more runs on a nightly basis.
The Red Sox are now third in the AL with a 3.73 ERA through 56 contests and only trail the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners respectively in that category. The offense may be ninth in total runs scored, but the OBP is third and that translates to a better offensive attach if the runners can be brought home on a more consistent basis.
Seven-Game Winning Streak
During the last seven days, the Red Sox were the ones taking advantage of some poor fielding while getting timely hits and pitching. In the four-game home-and-home series against the Atlanta Braves, the Red Sox took advantage of poor outfield and infield defense, especially in the series finale between the two teams to come back from a 3-1 hole in the eight and ninth innings.
The Tampa Bay Rays came into town with David Price on the mound Friday and the Red Sox once again took care of business after being down 2-0 to win with 3-2 in the tenth.
In the series finale on Sunday, Jon Lester finished with 12 strikeouts in seven innings of work while getting several hits from prospects as the Red Sox finished the sweep of the Rays, 4-0.
Young Guys Coming Through
Stephen Drew should be coming back on Monday night, but the young players in the farm system really have made a name for themselves, especially Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts over the last week.
Holt has been leading off most contests and has been playing out of his mind with a .375 average over the last week while hitting his first major league home run and notching six doubles and five RBI. Bogaerts has increased his average to .296 on the season with a .367 clip over the past seven games while launching a couple of homers to bring his season total to three.
Rubby De La Rosa earned his first win with the Red Sox after a dazzling seven shutout innings in which he struck out eight and allowed only four hits. He will likely get another turn in the rotation against the Detroit Tigers on Friday.
Alex Hassan and Garin Cecchini both got their first major league hits on Sunday and showed some flashes of what the Red Sox have down on the farm in the one contest they have played in so far.
Going Forward
The Red Sox have a nine-game road trip that starts with three against the Cleveland Indians Monday night and after a day off Thursday the team will head to Comerica Park to take on the Detroit Tigers.
Predictions: 4-2; The Red Sox may not be on a 13-game inning streak by the end of these series, but they should finish with a .500 record which should get them back into a prime situation heading into the summer grind of the regular season.