14 runs, 4 HRs, 6 straight Ws: Red Sox stay hot to move 10 games over .500

BOSTON – Not only do the Red Sox have the wins, piles of them of late, but they also have the power.

The big question going into the season was this: Who would hit the ball out of the yard on this team after chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s well-chronicled pivot to pitching and defense?

For months, the Sox lagged at or near the bottom of the Majors in homers. But the Boston bats have demonstrated plenty of thump during its torrid run, which included four more longballs in Tuesday’s 14-2 victory over the White Sox.

Make it eight homers in the last two games for the Sox, and 30 since the All-Star break, which is second in MLB over that span to the Braves.

“I think we talked a good bit about the small ball and it got a lot of attention because early on, when we kind of first started to get going, it created an identity for us finding ways to score runs when we weren’t hitting for power,” said interim manager Chad Tracy.

“But as we did that, the guys started to get comfortable and started swinging the bat well and then the power started to come. When you take those two things and combine it, it can be really dynamic, and that's what you're seeing now. We've definitely ramped up the power component of this, too, and really started to turn that on, which has been great to see.”

Caleb Durbin got the party started with his first career grand slam in the bottom of the first. For good measure, Jarren Duran put one into the bleachers to make it back-to-back jacks in a six-run opening frame. Wilyer Abreu added two solo rockets.

When Boston erupted for another six-spot in the sixth (without the benefit of a homer), it marked the club’s first game with two frames of six runs or more since April 27, 2024, against the Cubs.

The Sox have won six in a row, and are 24-3 since July 3. And with that, they are 10 games above .500 (61-51) for the first time this season.

Here are some other takeaways from an impressive start to the homestand.

1. Say hello to Erik Miller
While Adley Rutschman was clearly the spotlight acquisition of the three the Red Sox made on Trade Deadline Monday, lefty Erik Miller was the first of the four new players to get into the game. Though Miller faced just one batter, he made quite the entrance when he came on with two outs in the top of the sixth.

The big lefty, listed at 6-5 and 269 pounds, struck out Tristan Peters on four pitches. Miller took a red-eye flight from San Francisco after learning of the trade, and landed in Boston at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. A one-batter cameo was perfect.

“I think it was a good way to get my feet wet,” said Miller. “Get the guy out and be done with it and come back tomorrow and get ready to get after it again. But yeah, it was really cool, obviously [to] hear the crowd cheer while I was running in and hear a little bit of applause knowing that I'm coming in for the first time, it was really cool.”

The Red Sox dealt a former top prospect in Marcelo Mayer to get Miller, who provides an already strong bullpen with the one thing it lacked – a true power lefty.

2. Sandoval’s first win in over two years
In his fifth start back from Tommy John surgery, lefty Patrick Sandoval held the White Sox to six hits and two runs over five innings in which he walked four and struck out five.

Sandoval turned in similar lines in his first four starts back. But this time he got the win, his first since May 7, 2024.

“Very cool,” said Tracy. “He threw the ball well. His stuff looked great. The changeup looked really good. He threw some really quality curveballs. Velocity was there up to 96, a lot of 95s, 96s.”

3. Duran gets involved
It has been a tough season at the plate for Duran, who has been his own harshest critic. Perhaps now that the Trade Deadline has passed, Duran can relax a bit and get in a groove.

Over his last four games, Duran is 6-for-15, raising his average from .195 to .203. He has homered in the last two games, giving him 15 on the season.

In this one, Duran had his towering homer in the first and a single in the middle of that second six-run rally. He also stole a base.