They've played the Rays, the Marlins and now the Rays again, so the competition hasn't been fierce. But the story of the first week of the Red Sox' 2018 season isn't about whom they've beaten -- it's about how.
Since spitting up a four-run victory in the eighth inning of the season opener, the Red Sox have ripped off six victories in succession. In so doing, they've shown the ability to win close, low-scoring games, and in the case of the last two, extra-inning games, too.
Goodness knows, they're not winning games with their bats. As a team, they're hitting a less-than-robust .240. Their slugging percentage is an anemic .368, and their big offseason acquisition, J.D. Martinez has made little impact to date. The box score will show you that he had a triple on Thursday, but don't let that fool you: it was a wind-aided flyball to center that twisted and eluded Kevin Kiermaier, the Rays' otherwise superlative outfielder.
The home run shortage that was supposed to be fixed by Martinez? That's yet to happen. They entered play yesterday ranked 12th in the AL -- only a slight improvement from last year's spot at the bottom of the league -- and Martinez has yet to hit his first. And if you want to give them a mulligan for Thursday and the frigid temperatures, that still doesn't account for the first six games, four of which were played indoors and two of which took place in positively balmy Miami.
The bullpen, a strength last season, has been, to be charitable, spotty. Carson Smith came unglued in the eighth inning Thursday, just as he had done in the regular season opener, and collectively, the Sox' relievers have pitched to a 4.00 ERA.
Baserunning? Gulp. In the first inning, they added to their growing list of outs on the bases when Andrew Benintendi was thrown out with an ill-advised decision to go from first to second after a pitch in the dirt. They continue to average one head-scratcher per game, despite their manager's repeated admonitions to be more restrained.
And yet somehow, they sit at 6-1, winning in spite of their offense and overcoming their bullpen lapses. Give credit to the starters, who have been exemplary (ERA: 0.86), right up to and including David Price, who tossed another seven shutout innings Thursday to run his season-opening streak to 14.
In the near future, the schedule will get more challenging. The Yankees come to town next week, and that will be a good test. Eventually, the lineup will hit, and the starters will be hit, too, resulting in something of a baseball equilibrium.
But for now, they deserve credit for finding ways to win games like the 3-2 thriller they won Thursday.
"We've played a lot of close games and our ability to win a lot of one-run games has been good right now,'' noted Price.'
Thursday involved sticking with a rookie reliever (Bobby Poyner) for multiple innings while Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree sat ready and willing in tundra-like conditions in the bullpen.
Welcome home, #ELTRECE! pic.twitter.com/jhIDmw6rs8
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 5, 2018