Boston Red Sox have fully awakened from their slumber

Victories for the Boston Red Sox are beginning to pile up as of late and are being earned in a variety of ways.

Winning had not come easy for the Boston Red Sox in the first month of the 2019 season. It was never going to be a cake walk, with all looking to knock the champs off of the throne, regular season and beyond.

The champs took blow after blow in the season’s first four weeks, hanging out near the bottom of the American League East while trying to regain their balance.

Consider that all in the past.

Thanks to a 9-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, the Red Sox are now winners in 10 of their last 12 games. It was their fourth-straight victory and moved Boston two games over .500.

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The Red Sox have scored five or more runs in all but one of those ten victories. Five times they’ve scored nine or more runs, including Saturday’s victory. This was after a top-half of a first inning that had things looking bleak.

Rick Porcello, who had been dealing aces as of late, gave up five hits and four runs right off the bat. A long day appeared to be on the horizon but Porcello settled down and did not allow a hit or run the next 5.2 innings he worked.

The offense put up eight runs in the third, playing closer to how they did Friday night (14 runs) and last Saturday against the Chicago White Sox (reeling off 10 straight hits) than they did in a couple of midweek games against the Baltimore Orioles in which Boston scored a total of three runs.

Boston Red Sox: balanced pitching and hitting

The best part of Boston’s recent string of victories is that it’s not just one person or one aspect of the team getting things accomplished.

Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez and Porcello are all pitching well, anchoring a rotation that has a couple of players injured. A little help could be used in this department but with these three in top form, the return of David Price and Nathan Eovaldi will be cherries on top of the cake.

The bullpen has been mostly steady and consistent, with Brandon Workman bridging the gap to Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier with good results.

Hitters 1 thru 9 – well, outside of Jackie Bradley Jr.– have been producing. Even Bradley, despite a .149 batting average and .184 slugging percentage, has found ways to contribute at the plate. And he continues to shine in the field, adding to his already worthy reel with a game-saving, home run robbing grab the other night.

Rafael Devers is hitting .326 and has 13 RBI in his last 11 games. Devers picked up two more hits in Saturday’s victory, giving him seven multi-hit games over this span.

Even Christian Vazquez is hitting as of late, picking up eight hits over his last five games. He has no RBI during that span, but getting on base helps turn over the lineup and set the table for Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts.

Throw in Mitch Moreland, he of 12 home runs and 29 RBI, and there is very little in this lineup not to like. Moreland, it should be said, has 27 hits this season, 18 of which have been for extra bases.

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Boston is playing well but they haven’t exactly faced the stiffest of competition during this stretch. The Orioles and White Sox are both in rebuilding mode and Seattle has come down to earth after their hot start.

But the Boston Red Sox are supposed to win these games and actually doing so is equally important. They’ll get a chance with this current home stand to see how far they’ve come along. They’ll finish up withe Seattle before hosting the Colorado Rockies.

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The big test will come the weekend of May 17-19 when they face the Houston Astros. A successful weekend against Houston might provide a true barometer in the season’s early months.

And if this balanced effort keeps on playing well, then we’ll see a team that will keep on rolling right into June. And beyond.

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