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BOSTON Winners of four straight and seven of their last 10, the Red Sox are among the hottest teams in the game.
They have their starting pitching to thank.
As the Sox began a home series with the Washington Nationals Monday, their starters had contributed 11 straight quality starts six or more innings, with three earned runs or fewer allowed.
Its the franchises longest a club-record 14 straight in 1988.
During the stretch, Sox starters are 6-1 with a 1.51 ERA while allowing an opponents batting average of just .168.
Thats a long string of starts to have your starter out there for six-plus innings, giving up three runs or less, said interim manager Chad Tracy.
Its impressive.
Its really impressive.
Theyve been phenomenal.
If they can keep that up...its very similar to my initial time here when we werent playing that well, but the starting pitching was so good that you always felt like you were going to look up in the sixth inning and think, Weve got a chance to win this game.
I dont think theres too many managers who wouldnt sign up for that.
While the pitchers get most of the credit, Tracy pointed out that some early run support from the lineup has contributed, too.
Theres been a stretch of games since Colorado where weve actually done a better job of scoring runs early and giving our pitchers a lead, said Tracy.
Which is not something we were doing before.
Imagine taking the ball and its 0-0, or youre losing 1-0, youre feeling the pressure of If I let another run score...
Now, were actually handing them (support) - Heres a 2-0 lead.
Or, Heres a 3-1 lead.
Some of those things have been happening here.
To allow those guys (the luxury) of pitching with a lead instead of feeling like were trailing and were chasing and you cant make a mistake.
Thats helped as well.
The 11 games means the Sox have gone through their rotation more than twice as the streak grows.
And just as a few hot hitters in the lineup can positively influence others and create a carryover effect, the same impact is being felt in the rotation.
Theres no question, when you see that start to string itself together, said Tracy, theyll probably tell you that everybody wants to continue it.
Nobody wants to be the one that ends that streak.
- Heres Red Sox lineup vs.
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