The Boston Red Sox put together a stretch that touched four cities, five opponents, and 19 days without a loss. On Wednesday night, that run finally ended.
Boston fell 5-1 to the Baltimore Orioles in the nightcap of a doubleheader, snapping a 15-game winning streak that had tied the franchise’s longest run in 126 seasons, matching a mark set back in 1946. The Sox had won the earlier game 6-3, but the second contest never gave them a chance, as Boston fell behind 4-0 in the first inning and couldn’t climb back.
A Rough Start Sinks the Nightcap
GettyRed Sox interim manager Chad Tracy.
Rookie lefthander Eduardo Rivera struggled immediately, recording just two outs while throwing 42 pitches and allowing four runs in the opening frame. Pete Alonso doubled to start the trouble, and Gunnar Henderson reached on a walk before beating out a force-out attempt with a headfirst slide to load the bases.
Rivera struck out Christian Encarnacion-Strand for the second out, but the inning unraveled from there. A wild pitch brought in a run, a single added two more, and a double off the Green Monster scored another after Jarren Duran’s leaping attempt in left field came up well short. Interim manager Chad Tracy pulled Rivera after a walk to Jackson Holliday, and the rookie was optioned to Triple-A Worcester after the game.
Tracy acknowledged how thin the margin was in that opening frame.
“You’re one pitch away from it being 3-0 or 4-0,” Tracy said.
Brayan Bello entered in relief and delivered five scoreless innings, continuing a strong season out of the bullpen that has him sitting at a 0.77 ERA in that role. Boston’s offense, though, couldn’t generate enough to matter, managing just four hits and a single run against Baltimore Orioles starter Kyle Bradish across six innings.
A Clubhouse Moment After the Streak Ends
GettyBoston Red Sox starting pitcher Sonny Gray.
Tracy headed to the clubhouse after the game intending to address his team, but found veterans Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray already delivering much of the message he planned to share.
Gray explained the purpose was making sure the group understood the significance of what had just happened.
“When you’re in it, you might not realize it,” Gray said. “But you play this game for a very long time, and you’re not a part of things like that very often, ever, for me. Congratulations for what we just did, but also, just remember that that’s who we are. Believe that that’s who we are.”
Contreras framed the streak as proof of what this Red Sox team is capable of rather than something to mourn now that it’s over.
“We can beat anybody,” Contreras said.
What the Streak Actually Changed
Boston sat at 37-48 before the run began. The team now stands at 52-49, a dramatic turnaround built on pitching that stayed consistent through both good stretches and bad, along with an offense that started finding ways to manufacture runs and complete comebacks that hadn’t been happening earlier in the season.
Tracy pointed to that shift in identity as the real takeaway from the past three weeks, more significant than the streak’s length on its own.
“We found who we are when we’re a good baseball team,” Tracy said.
Where the Red Sox Stand Now
The Red Sox currently hold the final American League wild-card spot, sitting two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners. In the AL East, Boston trails the Tampa Bay Rays by seven games, a gap that has shrunk considerably from where it stood before the streak began.
With 61 games remaining in the regular season, how the Red Sox play from here will ultimately determine how this stretch gets remembered.
Final Word for the Red Sox
Boston’s streak is over, but the version of this team that produced it isn’t going anywhere. A club that looked buried in June proved it can beat anyone over an extended stretch, and that identity doesn’t disappear just because Wednesday night went wrong.
Sixty-one games remain to prove it wasn’t a fluke.
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