A couple of years ago, when members of the British Royal Family sat courtside at a Celtics game for some reason, we did what we do best in Boston…
We booed them.
We don’t take too kindly to royals around these parts, with Massachusetts being the literal birthplace of America and what not.
On Sunday, the Red Sox continued the time-honored tradition of Boston overthrowing royals by closing out an impressive first half with an impressive series victory over fellow American League wild card contender Kansas City.
“It tells you that we were ready to play today,” Alex Cora said after a 5-4, series-clinching victory Sunday. “Today’s one of those days that you’re thinking about your flight and all that stuff. You can like shut it down and you don’t post, (but) when you’ve got a guy like that setting the tone, it’s always good.”
That guy would be none other than All-Star Jarren Duran, whose 4 for 5 day capped a first half truly deserving of the “All-Star” title. Duran heads into the break with a .284/.342/.477 slash line, an AL-leading 27 doubles, a majors-leading 10 triples, 10 home runs and 41 RBIs.
Jarren Duran turns a single into a double 🔥
— Boston Strong (@BostonStrong_34) July 14, 2024
pic.twitter.com/uNqVtwUy2b
Asked about how satisfying his day was, Duran did what he’s done — and more importantly, what true team leaders do — all season long.
“Today was a really good team win, man,” Duran said. “We pitched really good, we hit really good, we had clutch hits like Dom (Smith) coming up clutch. Today was like a really good, overall team win. I mean, I’ve been saying that a lot this year. We’re just keeping it rolling and I love it.”
Smith’s two-run blast in the second spotted Boston a 4-1 lead after Rafael Devers demolished a 439-foot two-run bomb of his own in the first. That turned out to be an important lead, as the Royals rallied twice to make it a one-run game. An additional RBI single for Smith in the seventh plated the eventual winning run.
On Devers’ home run, “demolished” seemed like the best descriptor — because he literally broke a piece of Fenway Park in the process. Devers hit the ball so hard — an estimated 114.7 mph — that actually dislodged part of a seat in deep right.
I’d imagine John Henry is writing up an itemized bill for Devers to cover the cost of the repairs…
Fenway Facilities Incident Report: pic.twitter.com/oxvCPPswb2
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 14, 2024
With the win, Boston improved to a season-best 11 games over .500 at 53-42. The Sox are two games ahead of Kansas City for the final AL wild card and just a half-game back of Minnesota for the second wild card. More importantly, they’re only 4 1/2 games back of Baltimore and New York atop the AL East.
With the way this team was built, you truly could not have asked for more at the outset of the season.
“Just basically proving everybody wrong,” said Kenley Jansen, who struck out three over two innings to lock down his 439th career save. “We need to keep (staying) hungry, be humble, stay hungry and play hard, and be quiet about it, and keep grooving, man.”
Bello better
Given one last chance before the break to prove he’s turned a corner, Brayan Bello was up to the task.
Bello tossed 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball, giving up seven hits and a walk while totaling three strikeouts to improve to 10-5. And Bello’s ten victories? They lead the staff… a staff that includes All-Star hurler Tanner Houck, who himself is 8-6.
“It feels great, it feels great — even more when the team was able to win,” Bello said through a team interpreter. “We’ve been putting a lot of work in and it's paying off.”
His last two starts showed the two sides of Bello. In one, electric stuff that produced a career-high 11 strikeouts, but also a little wild. Then in the next, fewer strikeouts, but more under control — which is what’s most beneficial to this year’s team.
“He mixed his pitches, the fastball was good, the four-seamer,” Cora said after Sunday’s start. “They (Bello and Andrew Bailey) mixed it up a little bit more, kept them off balance. … Gave us a chance to win.”
Bello’s first half was definitely a mixed bag, which as I said all along was to be expected from a 25-year-old trying to find his way. But if he can resemble the more “under control” Bello for the rest of the year, it will go a long way toward getting this team into the postseason.
A surprise pick
Craig Breslow has made it quite clear since his arrival that improving the organizational pitching depth has been his priority.
That’s what made it surprising, at least to me, when Breslow made an outfielder his first draft selection as the lead decision maker of a front office.
Boston selected Braden Montgomery out of Texas A&M with the 12th overall pick in the MLB Draft on Sunday.
Our first round pick. pic.twitter.com/xyqiq1kbI2
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 15, 2024
The 21-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa played three college seasons, his first two at Stanford and his last with the Aggies that culminated in helping the team earn a College World Series championship series berth — his third trip to the CWS in as many collegiate seasons.
He slashed .317/.428/.646 with 62 home runs and 203 RBIs across 187 collegiate games. Montgomery also logged two seasons playing for Yarmouth-Dennis in the Cape Cod Baseball League, slashing .292/.379/.487 with five homers and 31 RBIs in 32 appearances.
This season at Texas A&M, Montgomery slugged 27 homers and drove in 85 runs with a .322/.454/.733 slash line in 61 games.
Oppo 🌮 for @B_mont_#GigEm pic.twitter.com/hMn62Zu573
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) March 30, 2024
“Braden is someone we have been a fan of for a long time, dating back to high school,” said Red Sox director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson. “His skillset fits perfectly into what we are trying to do here. He had a huge year in the SEC, and we believe he has even more development left. We are excited to bring in that type of player and, equally as important, that type of person.”
I’m not going to pretend to tell you if this kid will be able to hack it in the majors or not, and nobody at this point can earnestly make that claim. The numbers look good, he’s played on a big stage, and he’s shown progression.
Montgomery is also recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during Texas A&M's run to the CWS final. He said recently that all is going well in the recovery process, and he's a few weeks away from being fitted for a walking boot.
But if the Sox have truly been locked in on this guy for “a long time,” then it’s good that they got their man. Boston has certainly had a good run of picking outfield prospects of late — see Anthony, Roman and Bleis, Miguel (an international class signing) — two of their top five organizational prospects.
It also shows that Breslow is willing to consider all his options and did not take a “my way, or the highway” approach to the top of the draft. I’m sure he would have preferred to take a pitcher, but instead looked at the available information and made a decision based on the suggestion of his scouting staff.
(And for what it's worth, Breslow did take a pitcher with Boston's next pick at No. 50 overall in round two: Payton Tolle, a left-hander from TCU, who went 20-13 with a 4.09 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP and 271 strikeouts across three college seasons at Wichita State and TCU)
Whether or not that’s the right call, it remains to be seen. If Breslow was brought in for his insight, you’re going to have to let him run with it at some point. Perhaps this is another sign that he’s just another figure head for a Sox front office operation that didn’t really change its ways when it showed Chaim Bloom the door. But hey, we’ll see…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.
