Red Sox in Seventh Heaven: Win streak reaches seven games
In the absence of solid relief pitching, Hanley Ramirez’s Walk-off blast that ignited the Red Sox, much like any hopes for a ninth championship, would be moot.
The Boston Red Sox have won seven consecutive games for the first time this season. To be precise, the last occurrence of a seven-game win streak in Boston was from May 26, 2014 to June 1, 2014. Some readers may wonder if a modest seven-game winning streak is even worthy of its own article.
Normally, my response to such a query would be negative; however, this winning streak assumes added significance for numerous reasons.
First, all seven triumphs were against division adversaries with whom we were vying for the divisional crown. Second, the timing of the winning streak, mid-September, greatly amplified its significance, and lastly, Red Sox fans had to feel that this was a total team effort, representative of one required for a deep October run.
When the starters produced a sub-par exhibition, the bullpen performed brilliantly, holding down the fort and enabling the offense to engineer a comeback. As a result of consistently excellent pitching from virtually every member of the pitching staff, the offense was never required to author a monumental comeback in order to produce victories.
In fact, during the seven-game streak, the offense scored 40 runs, which is merely its average seasonal output for seven games. The crucial aspect of this winning streak was limiting our opponents to 24 runs during the streak’s duration.
This is the most consecutive games in recent memory that a starting pitcher or reliever did not put the offense in an inexorable deficit. I cannot overestimate the importance of this, as in the post-season, games are not won 12-10; rather, they are typically low-scoring affairs decided by only a run or two.
The Importance of this Winning Streak is Self-Evident
In case there still exist readers unconvinced of the importance of this seven-game winning streak, one fail-safe method is undeniable. Merely compare the AL East standings as of September 14 to their present form.
| AL East Standings on Sept. 14, 2016 | |||
| Team | Record | GB | WCGB |
| Boston | 81-64 | __ | __ |
| Baltimore | 80-65 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Toronto | 79-66 | 2.0 | __ |
| NY Yankees | 77-68 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| AL East Standings on Sept. 22, 2016 | |||
| Team | Record | GB | WCGB |
| Boston | 88-64 | __ | __ |
| Toronto | 83-69 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Baltimore | 82-70 | 6.0 | __ |
| NY Yankees | 79-72 | 8.5 | 2.5 |
At present, with ten games remaining in the season, the Red Sox have a five game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays, our closest threat. Prior to our seven-game win streak, we had seventeen games remaining on the schedule and three other teams were closer to us, (4 games), than any team is now (five games).
The winning streak was rendered so much more significant because it involved defeating divisional opponents. One week ago, the Yankees were only four games behind us with seventeen to play, rendering them a very real threat. At present, with ten games to play, they are 8.5 games behind and bear no semblance of a threat to us or anyone else.
One week ago, we had a one game lead on the Orioles and a two-game lead on the Blue Jays with seventeen games to play and a head-to-head series with both clubs on the horizon. By already winning three-of-the four games against the Orioles, and with the opportunity to win all four games, they are of little concern to our postseason hopes.
As we have pretty much sewn up this division, the upcoming series’ with the Yankees and Blue Jays appear to be mere formalities. This was certainly an unlikely scenario just seven days ago, but as a Red Sox fan I am not complaining.
The Pitching
Until this streak, I was uncertain if the pitching would be able to maintain its end of the bargain, and failure to do so would translate into an early exit from the postseason. I have no distress admitting that my trepidations regarding our pitching left me dubious regarding a deep post-season run; however, with every well-pitched game, I began to believe more and more that 2016 could be a magical year.
I would like to quickly cite and comment on the brilliant pitching performances authored throughout this streak. My intention is to demonstrate how virtually every pitcher contributed to this streak by performing at levels of which I did not believe that they were capable.
During this seven-game winning streak, the Red Sox have received four “Quality Starts,” two from Clay Buchholz, one from Rick Porcello and one from Eduardo Rodriguez. It follows that three of the seven starts were not of the “Quality” variety. The fact that we were able to emerge triumphant in all three non-quality starts is a tribute to the praiseworthy performance of our bullpen.
Throughout the season, Red Sox starters have provided 83 Quality Starts. In those 83 starts, our record is 57 victories and 26 defeats. When our starters do not deliver Quality starts, our record is 31 victories accompanied by 38 defeats.
The major reason for our futility in non-quality starts is that, until very recently, our bullpen has been dreadful; however, during this winning streak our bullpen has been fantastic. With the exception of Fernando Abad, who has pitched 0.1 innings during this streak and surrendered a two-run home run, our bullpen has performed flawlessly.
Abad excepted, our bullpen has failed to give up a single earned run during this winning streak, covering 22.1 IP. Never did I think that such a claim could ever be possible; however, Heath Hembree, Junichi Tazawa, Robby Scott, Joe Kelly, Robbie Ross, Brad Ziegler, Koji Uehara, Craig Kimbrel, and Matt Barnes, have all pitched at least one inning during our winning streak and nary a one has yielded an earned run!
Without the spark, there can be no fire
A trivial tidbit, it should be mentioned that Hanley Ramirez’s Walk-off Home Run off of Dellin Betances to commence this winning streak was the first Red Sox walk-off win of the season in the regulation nine-innings. The two other walk-off wins by the 2016 Boston Red Sox occurred in extra innings.
In the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen, “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” The spark that ignited this winning streak and ultimately ended the season of the team owned by our good friends Hank and Hal Steinbrenner was Hanley Ramirez’s “Shot Heard ‘Round The World, Part Deux.”
Allow me to set the stage so we can all relive that magical moment. With two outs in the bottom half of the ninth inning, the Red Sox were trailing the New York Yankees 5-4, with runners occupying second and third base. Ramirez had worked the count against the Yankee closer to three Balls and one Strike. Then came the fifth-pitch of the at-bat; a pitch that forever altered the 2016 campaigns of the two teams engaged in the contest.
Betances unleashed a 99-mph fastball that Ramirez deposited over the centerfield wall for the greatest regular season victory of the 2016 Red Sox.
In the preceding section, the virtues of the bullpen were extolled and that praise ties into Ramirez’s at-bat bearing any relevance. If the bullpen, specifically Robby Scott’s 3 innings of scoreless relief were instead 3 innings of 3-run relief, the Red Sox are likely too far behind in the ball game for Hanley’s at-bat to be of any significance.
In other words, without the bullpen putting up zeroes, Hanley’s Home Run would not have been a walk-off and would have simply reduced the deficit.
The moral from this little vignette is that in order for the Red Sox to allow the best offense in baseball to work its magic, the pitching staff must keep the score of the game within reason.
Next: Mookie Betts first to 200 hits
Hanley’s Home Run will never be forgotten, but an often-overlooked contribution is that of the bullpen, if they do not do their job, there is no walk-off, and we simply lose by a score of 8-7, in addition to a game in the standings.