The Boston Red Sox entered the first game of their home series with the Washington Nationals fresh off a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees. Boston continued its winning spell into the series opener against Washington, good for its longest streak of the year.
The Red Sox were also in the midst of a quality start streak, with 12 straight games of starting pitching dominance through their win against Washington. But the next night, on June 30, everything came crashing down to earth.
Willson Contreras was ejected for the second consecutive night after he initiated a fourth benches-clearing event following a potentially racially insensitive comment from Nats pitcher Cade Cavalli. Contreras was so upset that he needed to be held back by multiple people and even threw his helmet into the scrum, which is almost guaranteed to get him, one of Boston's best players, suspended for at least a few games.
Then, Connelly Early left the game after four innings. The Red Sox later revealed that Early departed with elbow soreness, the last thing the club needs — elbow injuries are often a sign of a long-term diagnoses in pitchers, and although Early is optimistic, he'll be spending at least 15 days on the injured list.
Red Sox crashed and burned from five-game winning streak in the most Red Sox way possible
To make matters worse, Cavalli dominated the Red Sox after his confrontation with Contreras. The righty pitched seven, one-run innings with a career-high 13 strikeouts against Boston.
The Red Sox's woes continued into the series finale. The fight completely took the wind out of their sails, they scored just three runs in the final two games and struck out 10 times in game three, went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base — just as the hopeless version of the 2026 Red Sox would.
Boston is seemingly allergic to momentum. Its sweep over the Yankees represented the start of a hot streak that, had it continued, could've carried it to Wild Card contention and relevance in an underwhelming American League. Instead, the Red Sox got lost in the shuffle, let Cavalli and the Nationals get in their heads. Sure, the Nats have one of the best offenses in the league, but Boston has some of the best pitching, and it did not materialize in the last two games of that series when Washington scored a combined 18 runs.
Boston's June 30 and July 1 are the perfect embodiment of why this Red Sox season has been so brutal to watch. The club can't get out of its own way, and somehow every devastating event and injury comes at the worst time.
The Red Sox have a road series against the Los Angeles Angels, one of the only two American League teams with a worse record than Boston, coming up. If the Sox can't get back on their horse against the Angels, it might be time to fully commit to selling at the upcoming trade deadline and leaving the five-game winning streak in the past.
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