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.
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.
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. His first pitch was a sinker that purred in at 96.7 mph for called strike one. Then, he fired another sinker at 97 mph that was a foul tip. After his lone ball of the at-bat, Miller sent Peters down looking at an 87.1 mph slider. 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.
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.
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.