The Red Sox keep finding new ways to turn a tense night into another entry in the win column.
On Monday at Fenway Park, Boston outlasted the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 to stretch its winning streak to 14 straight games, pushing the club one step closer to a piece of franchise history. Baltimore arrived with a seven-game run of its own, but the Red Sox answered that challenge and came away with a result that was anything but routine.
Boston jumped in front 3-1 in the third inning and looked ready to settle things early. The Orioles, though, kept punching back. They climbed ahead 4-3, then later moved in front 5-4 before the Red Sox answered again.
Willson Contreras delivered an RBI double to even the score, and Ceddanne Rafaela came through with the RBI hit in the bottom of the seventh to tie it once more. In the eighth, Caleb Durbin changed the game with a home run that proved to be the winner.
Aroldis Chapman handled the ninth by striking out two, finishing the game and lowering his season ERA to 1.99.
It wasn’t Payton Tolle’s best outing, but Boston’s offense covered for him and kept the streak alive.
The 14-game run now stands as the second-longest in Red Sox history, trailing only the 15-game streak from 1946. For a team that opened the season in rough shape, this has become a remarkable surge, and it now sits just one win away from matching a mark that has stood for 80 years.
In Other News...
Bruins Still Have One Unsettled Problem Hanging Over This Roster
The NHL offseason has been relatively quiet, but the calendar is about to pick up as arbitration cases begin and more player movement is expected around the league. For the Bruins, the biggest lingering issue is on the back end, where they have more NHL-caliber defensemen than they can realistically dress on a nightly basis, a surplus that has kept the conversation about roster balance from going away.
Boston has time to sort through it, at least for now, because Charlie McAvoys six-game suspension gives the club a little breathing room before any decision becomes urgent. Even so, the logjam on defense still feels like the one unsettled problem hanging over the roster, and with other teams continuing to hunt for additions, the Bruins may eventually have to answer it with a move of their own. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Bring Back Connor Clifton And Fans Will Have Strong Opinions
Connor Clifton is back in Boston on a two-year, $4.5 million deal, giving the Bruins a familiar face for the bottom of the blue line and a player they know well from his first run with the club. The fit is pretty clear on paper: Clifton brings a physical edge, stays reliable in his own end and gives the Bruins another defenseman who can handle the kind of hard minutes that tend to matter once the games get heavier.
Don Sweeney made it clear the organization still values Cliftons competitive streak and the energy he can bring to a room, which helps explain why Boston circled back. There is still plenty of debate to come about what this reunion means for the defense mix and how much runway Clifton will get, especially after a stretch away from Boston that did not go as smoothly as he or his old team would have liked. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins May Finally Have A Veteran Answer To Their Quiet Offseason
Bostons quiet offseason has left plenty of room for speculation about how the club will round out its forward group, and veteran depth remains one of the more obvious needs as training camp approaches. One name making the rounds is James van Riemsdyk, whose recent season with the Detroit Red Wings showed he can still bring usable offense and a steady presence to the bottom six.
For a Bruins team that could use more experience in its middle and lower lines, van Riemsdyk also fits the kind of low-risk addition that can help a second power-play unit and give younger players a seasoned pro to lean on. No move is in place yet, and no offer has been reported, but the possibility alone suggests Boston may not be done searching for a practical answer to an otherwise understated summer. [Read more 🡒]