However, the way in which the wins came on the remarkable Red Sox road trip signals something even greater for a ballclub that is putting it all together right now.
Francona’s bunch won in all kinds of ways during the excursion. At times, they obliterated opposing pitchers, scoring at least 11 runs in three of the nine games. They rallied from behind in a matchup with Yankees ace CC Sabathia, scoring seven runs in the seventh inning of an 8-3 win in New York. They rode a handful of outstanding pitching performances, the most notable being Josh Beckett’s one-hit gem on Wednesday night. And then there was Thursday, when they scratched and clawed and survived multiple in-game injuries to finish the trip in victorious fashion.
In a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston lost starting shortstop Jed Lowrie after just one at-bat and saw starter Clay Buchholz leave after five innings and 81 pitches with lower back tightness. Meanwhile, third baseman Kevin Youkilis limped off the field after catching a foul pop and falling down in the sixth. He also appeared hurt when he made a sparkling defensive play in the ninth.
Through it all, the Red Sox never lost a lead they built early on, even while the injuries piled up, the Rays chipped away and the game took on the feeling of one that could get away. For a crew that has tasted defeat just seven times in the last 36 days, that doesn’t happen all that easy.
Buchholz gets plenty of credit even if his start was abbreviated. He yielded just one run on two hits in his five frames. Those that picked up the slack should get plenty as well.
“When you’ve got to go four innings, that’s a lot to ask,” Francona said of Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon, who combined to allow a run in four innings.
Once it was over, the scoring margin on the road trip was 67-25. The 8-1 mark is the club’s best in a nine-game trip since 1977. That team went 9-0 en route to a 97-win campaign. However, it only outscored its opponents 36-15 on the stretch, mere child’s play for today’s powerhouse unit.
The only loss of this current trip was actually easy to take. The Sox ran into James Shields on a night when he had it all working. Sometimes you just tip your cap and move on, which is all they could do that night.
And now, after erasing the sting of that one defeat and finishing one of the finest voyages in franchise history, a scary good ballclub returns home to begin a stretch of 15 straight interleague games. Boston leads all of baseball with a 97-50 record in interleague play since 2003.
There will be more injuries. There will be the occasional run-in with someone like James Shields. But if this trip taught us one thing, it’s that the Red Sox are prepared to win in any way they can. And they’re prepared to do it often.
