After the Boston Red Sox dropped two out of three to the Washington Nationals last week, they headed out on a nine-game road trip. It would be a defining road trip ahead of the All-Star break.
After sweeping the Los Angeles Angels, the Red Sox had a three-game series against the first-place Chicago White Sox. Boston completed a three-game sweep on Wednesday afternoon with a 2-1 victory. Don’t look now, but the Red Sox are within striking distance of the final American League wild-card spot.
The win on Wednesday was their sixth straight before heading to Queens, New York, for a three-game weekend series with the New York Mets. Before Boston headed to New York, first-year third baseman Caleb Durbin explained what has been going so well for the Red Sox lately.
Boston Red Sox Third Baseman Caleb Durbin Explains Team’s Recent Surge
After the one-run win over the White Sox on Wednesday, Boston has won 11 of 13 games over the last two weeks. That stretch began with a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. What has been the success to the turnaround? Durbin didn’t mince words about what’s leading to success.
“We’re just playing winning baseball,” said Durbin, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “I think we’ve been close for a while but were just on the wrong side of it. Now we’re on the right side of it, and you could feel the momentum around the clubhouse.”
Part of the turnaround has been the recent success Durbin has had himself at the plate. He has had eight home runs since June 10. His two-run blast off Chicago’s Anthony Kay on Wednesday afternoon was the difference in the win.
Despite his recent success, Durbin doesn’t believe that he has hit his potential yet.
“I’m not close to my potential as far as those numbers go,” Durbin said, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. “Just trying to keep stacking good at-bats.”
Boston Red Sox Heading Into New York With a Ton of Momentum
Boston’s pitching has been a huge reason for their turnaround as well. How good are things going for interim manager Chad Tracy? Patrick Sandoval made his first MLB start since June of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He went 4.1 innings, scattering five hits, allowing one run with five strikeouts and one walk. He threw 65 pitches.
“It was really good. The velocity was up. It was good to see. He was in the strike zone,” said Tracy, per Browne. “Landing all of his pitches for the first time in, I don’t know how many days it was — 700 days or whatever it’s been? Pretty darn good.”
Boston is looking to have a pretty darn good weekend against the Mets. If they can, then they’ll have some serious momentum going into the All-Star break. They’ll have to play the three-game series without All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras. He began serving his five-game suspension, which was reduced by two games. Winning the series without their leading home run hitter would give Boston serious momentum that nobody saw coming going into the break.
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