Red Sox ride 14-game surge from AL basement to deadline drama

The Boston Red Sox are suddenly the club nobody wanted to see coming.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield reported that Boston stretched its winning streak to 14 games Monday night at Fenway Park, beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 after a ninth inning that nearly got away.

Aroldis Chapman was asked to protect a one-run lead created by Caleb Durbin’s two-out homer in the eighth. Chapman opened the ninth by walking Colton Cowser, then struck out the next two Orioles, according to ESPN.

Baltimore, which entered on a seven-game winning streak, kept pushing. Gunnar Henderson doubled off the Green Monster, putting runners on second and third. Chapman then reached back for a 101.6 mph fastball to Tyler O’Neill, his fastest pitch of the season, ESPN reported.

O’Neill lined a ball toward left, but shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng was positioned in the right spot and made the catch above his head to end it.

That gave Boston 14 straight wins, one short of the franchise record set in 1946, the season Ted Williams hit .342, won MVP and the Red Sox captured the American League pennant. ESPN reported the streak remained at 14 after Tuesday’s game was postponed by weather.

From rock bottom to rip-roaring

The run looks even wilder next to where Boston stood less than a month earlier.

On June 24, ESPN reported, the Red Sox fell 8-6 to the Colorado Rockies after Colorado scored three times in the seventh and twice in the eighth. Marcelo Mayer’s error on a routine ground ball opened the seventh-inning damage.

Two days before that, Boston had blown a 2-0 ninth-inning lead against the Rockies when Chapman allowed three runs without recording an out, according to ESPN.

At that point, the Red Sox were 32-46, 14 games under .500. ESPN reported that was the worst record in the American League and better than only Colorado across MLB.

The club had already fired manager Alex Cora in late April and promoted Triple-A manager Chad Tracy. ESPN reported that Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony, described as Boston’s two best projected players entering the season, were injured. The team also lacked power, while chief baseball executive Craig Breslow and owner John Henry were taking heat from media and fans. ESPN noted that chants calling for Henry to sell the team had been heard at Fenway since early April.

The delayed flight that started a run

According to ESPN, the turnaround began after a flight out of Colorado was delayed by a mechanical issue, forcing the plane back to Denver. The Red Sox waited five hours for another plane and did not arrive in Boston until 5 a.m.

Tracy then told players to report an hour later than usual for the June 25 game against the New York Yankees. Boston won 6-2, then followed with wins of 6-1, 4-1 and 5-4 in 10 innings to sweep the four-game series, ESPN reported.

Those later report times have since become regular, according to ESPN, though Schoenfield pointed to pitching as the bigger factor.

The rotation posted a 2.66 ERA during Boston’s 19-2 stretch, ESPN reported. The surge came without Crochet, with Connelly Early on the injured list because of a sore elbow for part of it, and with Ranger Suarez’s planned return from the 15-day IL pushed back a day after Tuesday’s postponement.

Sonny Gray went 3-0 with a 1.07 ERA over four starts during the run, pitching himself into the Cy Young discussion, according to ESPN. Rookie left-hander Jake Bennett also became a major part of the charge, going 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA during the 19-2 stretch.

Bennett, acquired from the Washington Nationals in the offseason for Luis Perales, was 5-3 with a 2.35 ERA through nine starts, ESPN reported. The 25-year-old does not overpower hitters, sitting at 92-93 mph, but ESPN cited his 6-foot-6 frame, extension, changeup and ground-ball ability as key parts of his success.

With the trade deadline approaching, Boston’s hot streak has changed the tone around a team that looked finished in June. ESPN’s numbers show why: during the 14-game streak, the Red Sox pitching staff had a 1.98 ERA, the lineup averaged 5.9 runs per game, and Boston hit 22 home runs.

This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.