None of that stopped the vibes at Fenway. Interim manager Chad Tracy has this team playing with zero fear, and the market reflected it — Boston opened as a healthy favorite and the number only tightened as Baltimore's own surge got harder to ignore.
Boston's turnaround from 29-43 in late June to a team fighting for a wild-card spot is the story of the summer in Boston, and the Red Sox took that same 13-game winning streak — tied for the second-longest in franchise history — into this one looking to match the 1948 club and inch toward the 1946 record of 15. Baltimore wasn't just happy to be there, either. The Orioles arrived on a 7-game streak of their own, having swept series over Kansas City and Houston to climb back over .500 in the loss column.
Both bullpens carried real questions. Baltimore's relief corps is missing Felix Bautista, Keegan Akin, Colin Selby and now Ryan Helsley for the year or close to it, while Boston's pen has been leaned on hard to cover for the rotation. That combination — two shaky pens, two offenses that had been hitting all month — made this one look like it could turn into a track meet before a pitch was thrown.
And a track meet it was. Boston trailed early before answering with runs in the 2nd and 3rd, and the two sides traded body blows the rest of the way — 21 combined hits, 4 Orioles errors, and the deciding run finally crossing in the late innings. The Red Sox won it 6-5, stretching the streak to 14 and leaving them one win shy of the franchise record.
Baltimore didn't fold, though. Getting 11 hits and pushing across 5 runs against a Boston pitching staff that's been shutting everyone down says the Orioles' bats are for real, even in a loss. That's a group that should keep竞 pushing in this series no matter what the scoreboard said Monday.