Sox sweep O’s, stay on top in wild card
Alex Cora knows that if his Red Sox continue to win series over the final two weeks, they’ll be in good shape.
But with the lowly Orioles still in town and even after already taking the threegame set, they couldn’t let an opportunity slip to add another important victory in the wild card race.
It certainly didn’t come smooth or easy, but the Red Sox don’t care how the wins come. Behind another strong offensive performance, they took care of what they needed to do, overcoming a late blown lead and some minor stress to come away with an 8-6 victory and sweep the lastplace O’s.
The Red Sox have now won five in a row and continue to be in a favorable position as they chase not only a berth in the wild-card game, but to host it. With 11 games to go, they remain atop the American League wild card standings by one game over the Blue Jays, and are now 2 1/2 games over the Yankees, who were shelled by the Indians.
It may have been easy for the Red Sox (86-65) to overlook the Orioles, but after an impressive end to their road trip in Seattle, they remain focused on the ultimate goal over the next two weeks. And though it was almost six months ago, Cora said his club learned a valuable lesson from when they were swept by these O’s at Fenway to start the year.
“We felt coming into the season we were going to be a good team, and then that happened,” Cora said. “I don’t want to say it was a wakeup call. It wasn’t the end of the season, but it’s a good reminder, when you play bad baseball you’re going to get beat. When you play good baseball, you’ve got a chance to win. …
“They were ready. We had a good conversation in Seattle toward the end of the series, kind of reminding (us) that we control this. We control our own destiny. We have been playing really good baseball, a lot of tight games. If we continue to do that, we’re going to be in good shape, and this was a great weekend for us.”
While the O’s remain in last with 102 losses and not much to play for, they’re still playing hard. Cora was paying attention as they took a game from the Yankees last week. And on Sunday, they made it difficult on the Red Sox.
The afternoon looked like it would be a breeze for the Red Sox as they opened an early 4-0 lead. But Nathan Eovaldi uncharacteristically gave up three runs in the third that made it close. And then the Red Sox’ bullpen — which had been lights-out over the last week — made things uncomfortable in the seventh.
Garrett Whitlock left the game with right pectoral tightness after issuing a leadoff walk, and the troubles continued with Hirokazu Sawamura, who allowed back-to-back free passes to load the bases before Trey Mancini cleared the bases with a go-ahead, basesclearing double to put the O’s up, 6-5.
But the Red Sox fought back in the bottom of the seventh. Four consecutive hits — started by Jose Iglesias’ leadoff double and then Kiké Hernandez’s game-tying RBI single that bounced off second base and into right field — put the Sox back ahead for good.
“It was a grind today,” Cora said.
But they’re hoping there won’t be any more over the next two weeks. With eight of their final 11 games against sub-.500 teams, Eovaldi knows the Red Sox are in a great place.
“This was a big series for us,” Eovaldi said. “We’ve got the Mets coming in next. I like our odds. I like our chances. I like our schedule coming up. We just have to keep doing the small things right, going out there and competing and keep winning.”
Though they struggled for a long period after the AllStar break and then were hit with a COVID-19 outbreak that could have derailed their season, the Red Sox haven’t crumbled. Now, they hope the worst is behind them and the best is in front of them as they go after a spot in the playoffs.
“Everybody’s coming back, everybody’ s healthy, we’re getting all of our pieces back at the right time and we’re able to go out there and play good baseball,” Eovaldi said. “We’re coming off of five wins now and with that momentum coming into the schedule we have, it’s going to be key for us to continue that success and take it one game at a time, try not to look too far ahead and focus on our goal.”