The sweep is complete. The Red Sox have won eight in a row.
Top Play (WPA)
It always sort of feels like salt in the wound when the top play in a game comes from the losing team. The silver lining for the Orioles in their fourth straight home loss to the Red Sox was Trey Mancini’s three-run home run in the third inning was the top play of the game. Chins up, Baltimore.
The Red Sox’s top play, if you can believe it, was a home run from Hanley Ramirez (.133). After Andrew Benintendi’s go-ahead double in the 5th (.108) gave the Sox a 4-3 lead, Hanley’s homer two innings later added on the much-desired insurance run and also gave them their fifth-straight game of scoring five runs, which feels incredibly poetic in some way or another.
Bottom Play (WPA)
Down 4-3 in the 6th inning, Trey Mancini hit a leadoff double because of course he did, why wouldn’t he? Jonathan Schoop, Drew Stubbs and JJ Hardy then failed to drive him in. Schoop’s ground out to third (-.074) is technically the worst, but they were all bad.
Key moment
Here’s Hanley’s home run.
Everyone is playing well for the Sox, but Hanley’s been the star of this winning streak. I (and everyone else, I know) am all for it.
Trend to watch
In the last four series – all against AL East teams – this team has scored 13 runs once, 12 runs once, 11 runs once, seven runs twice, six runs once, and five runs five times. They’ve scored fewer than five runs three times in the last 14 games. That’s the trend to watch.
What’s next
We’re headed to The Trop, friends. It’ll be Drew Pomeranz vs. Chris Archer. First pitch is at 7:05pm.
Photo by Evan Habeeb/USA Today Sports Images