Red Sox 5, White Sox 0

 

Last night, the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0,  for their fifth consecutive win. It's only the second time this season that Boston's won five straight, and they haven't yet won six straight, so today's game should be interesting. 

Last night, rookie Jake Bennett pitched seven solid innings, giving up no runs, only four hits, and four K's. The bullpen (Weissert and Morán) was perfect - no hits, no runs, and two Morán strikeouts.

Meanwhile, all the scoring occurred in the third and fourth innings. Cheng and Rafaela had RBI base hits in the third, and then Seigler scored on a wild pitch. Cheng had another RBI in the fourth and Narvaez brought Yoshida home with a single that inning. With Bennett's pitching and the bullpen, those five runs were more than enough for the Red Sox to win the game.

Contreras and Seigler both left the game with apparent foot contusions. A loss of Contreras would be devastating, especially at this resurgent point in the season, but if it's "only" a contusion and with the All-Star break coming up, the impact may be muted.

The Red Sox (42-48) are now twelve games back from first-place Tampa Bay, who beat the Yankees -  again - last night. Winning the AL East isn't a realistic goal, despite the enthusiasm we may be feeling right now on this 10-2 run we're on, but Boston is once again only three games back in the Wild Card race, with four teams, all below .500, ahead of them. 

We're going to the World Series, baby!  

But first we need to wrap up this series in Chicago. Patrick Sandoval returns from a years-long stint on the IL and will make his first Red Sox appearance today, as well as his first time on the mound since June 21 back in 2024.  He's a career 0-3 against the White Sox, but that's based on three starts for the Angels, which has to be taken into consideration. 

The Pale Hose will start veteran Anthony Kay (6-3, 4.29), who's never started against the Red Sox and has only faced Boston in relief appearances, none since July 2023 when he was pitching for the other Chicago team.

A win today (2:10 pm) would be huge for Boston. It would be both the first consecutive sweep of two teams this season as well as the first six-game win streak of the year. And with three games against the woeful Mets (39-54) next, it sets us up to potentially sweep three in a row, and complete a 9-0 run before the break.

World Series. We're going to the World Series, baby!