There have been other series victories — four of them, to be exact — but none with the same level of significance as this one.
Facing a better team in a (home) ballpark they’ve played poorly in, and coming off a demoralizing 7-1 loss in the series opener, the Red Sox did something they’ve yet to do all season…
Bear down.
Boston responded to Friday’s decisive loss to the Chicago Cubs with an emphatic 17-run, 21-hit shutout victory on Saturday. The next night in the rubber match in front of a nationally televised audience, all was looking good for the Sox with a 4-0 lead entering the seventh inning.
And that’s when the wheels came off…
Before you knew it, Boston’s four-run lead evaporated as Chicago right fielder Mike Tauchman launching a game-tying three-run homer in the eighth.
Raise your hand if you’ve seen this movie before. We all have. Plenty of times this season, no less. Remember that 3-1 lead Boston had in the 10th inning of their third game of the season in Seattle? If you didn’t, Joely Rodriguez certainly does.
Or how about two weeks ago Tuesday when Boston rallied from a four-run deficit and put up a five-spot in the sixth inning to go up 6-5, only to give up a run in the eighth, a run in the ninth and three in the 10th in a 10-7 loss to Cleveland?
It seemed that’s exactly where we were headed once again on Sunday Night Baseball. Another late collapse and another series loss to a good team. Yet instead of rolling over as they’ve done too often of late, this Sox team turned it into a gut-check moment.
Jarren Duran worked a leadoff walk to open the ninth. Rafael Devers singled, Duran sped to third. And Tyler O’Neill cashed in his first Fenway walk-off with a bloop single to left, and the Red Sox won the game and the series.
Another day, another dub. pic.twitter.com/yLNjfznhZF
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2024
“He got the walk, then the big boy, it seems like he’s in a good place offensively, and then we put the ball in play,” Alex Cora said. “Men at third (with) less than two outs, put the ball in play (and) good things happen.”
Finally, the Red Sox have something they can hang their hat on this season…
“We played good baseball,” Cora said. “Two bloops and a homer, that’s what happened in the eighth inning. Overall, a good win, some good at-bats. We won the series, so you can’t complain about that.”
In my book, the biggest victory from this series came in the mental aspect of the game. The Sox have won games this season, they’ve had good games at the plate, and they’ve certainly had plenty of good performances on the mound. Even so, you couldn’t help but sense a lack of belief within the walls of their clubhouse.
As we waited for the postgame media scrum to begin in the home clubhouse after the Red Sox failed to capture a series split against the Guardians a week and a half ago, I remember looking around, observing the environment, and saying to myself… “man, this place has a real losing vibe.”
Granted it had just come after a loss, but this Sox clubhouse felt different than any other I’ve ever covered — and that has included plenty of last-place teams in recent years. Players didn’t only look defeated, some appeared disengaged and checked out. It was as if they had already accepted their fate… and it was only April 18th.
Coming into the weekend series with Chicago, it felt like the Red Sox needed to prove to themselves that they had it in them. After seventeen runs and their first walk-off win of the season, it feels like they may have done just that.
“We’re a dangerous lineup,” O’Neill told ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball crew after Sunday’s win. “It takes one through nine to win ballgames, especially over 160 games, so happy again that I could do my part."
Of course, it won’t matter if the Sox aren’t able to do anything with their new-found momentum moving forward. They’re about to enter a potentially difficult eight-game stretch against San Francisco, Minnesota and Atlanta.
San Francisco and Boston have been in the same boat for much of the season, simply treading water. The Giants enter their three-game series at Fenway Park with a sub-.500 record at 14-15, but have been playing better baseball of late having won eight of their last 13 games and rolling off four consecutive series without a loss (3-0-1).
On Tuesday, the series will begin with Logan Webb — who finished second in National League Cy Young Award voting a season ago — toeing the rubber opposite the Red Sox’s “dangerous” lineup. Boston will roll out starters Cooper Criswell, Kutter Crawford and Josh Winckowski in the three-game set.
After that, Boston heads to Minnesota for three against the defending AL Central champion Twins. While Minnesota hasn’t captured the same level of lightning in a bottle as they did last season, entering their Monday three-game series at the Chicago White Sox at 14-13, they’re currently riding a season-best seven-game win streak. They’re in line to send two of their better pitchers in Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan to the bump when they face the Red Sox.
Then the Sox will play two games in Atlanta against the Braves, who as of Monday at 19-7 have the best record in the majors. Enough said...
Good teams and bad teams alike will lose series over the course of any given year, but it’s how they play during those games that bears paying attention to. Boston’s series against San Francisco and Minnesota, while both should be challenging, are winnable. As for the Braves, I’d consider it a win if they were able to walk away with a split.
We’ll learn a lot about this Sox team with how they compete over this nine-day stretch. We already know they’re capable of beating the bad teams, but if this past weekend’s series against the Cubs is any indication, they might be on the verge of turning a corner and truly competing against the good ones too…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.