Red Sox 14, White Sox 2

 

What do you do after you swept the Dodgers in L.A. and return home on a five-game winning streak to face the Chicago White Sox, the first-place team in the AL Central?  

Score six runs in the first inning, including a Caleb Durbin home run and a Jarren Duran solo homer in the next at-bat, and go on to win the game, 14-2, of course. 

The Red Sox scored six more runs in the sixth inning, and Wilyer Abreu hit solo homers in the fifth and eighth innings. Starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval went five innings with five K's and two runs, and the bullpen kept Chicago hitless through four, including Eric Miller in his Red Sox debut and Brayan Bello closing the game with three hitless innings. Outfielder Eli White made his first Boston appearance, too, pinch hitting for Rafaela in the eighth (he grounded out on the first pitch to him). 

For most of this season, it seemed like five consecutive wins were something beyond this team's pay grade. Now, after the 15-game win streak, they've just won a sixth straight for the second time this year. 

The Red Sox are now 61-51, ten game over .500. Just last June, they were 14 point underwater at one point. They trail the Rays by 5½ games and the Yankees by two, and in any other division of the American League, their .545 record would put them in first place. The AL East is a tough neighborhood.  

Sonny Gray (13-2, 2.93) starts tonight. His ERA is the sixth lowest in the American League and his thirteen wins are the most of any pitcher in the AL, and tied for second over in the NL. Gray has a 7-2 lifetime record against the White Sox. 

Gray will be up against Chicago's Sean Burke (7-5, 3.04). In his last start against the Red Sox back on 4/20 of last year, he struck out five and gave up four runs (only one officially earned) in five innings.

At 8-2 over their last ten games, the Sox are tied with Houston and San Diego as the hottest team in MLB. It's time to make that record 9-1 and leave those Astros and Padres behind.