By Bunt Or By Blast, The Red Sox Keep Winning

The Boston Red Sox enjoyed a 15-game win streak that vaulted them back into the playoff picture last month, and they’ve stayed upright in the days since. Holding a four-game edge over the third and final wild card slot, Boston’s preserved their flame with a series of games in which they’ve simply, pardon the cliché, found a way to get the victory. Whether they’re smashing the ball over the fence or knocking it just a few feet beyond home plate, the Red Sox are proving very tough to handle.

The active win streak at the moment is four games, and the first of the quartet was an extra-inning triumph at the Athletics’ temporary ballpark, where Andruw Monasterio launched a two-run shot into orbit in the top of the 10th to deliver a 4-2 final. In Thursday’s game, the Sox were down 4-3 in the eighth, but the demolition duo of Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras hit back-to-back solo dingers to take the lead, each of them feasting upon some juicy off-speed stuff as they sent Luis Medina’s offerings to deep center field.

Usually, when a team is winning as often as the Sox are, the clubhouse is happy and everybody’s getting along. But Jarren Duran’s remained a bit touchy. The man who was an All-Star outfielder two seasons ago and still put up 3.9 fWAR in a comparatively disappointing 2025 has been struggling through a brutal campaign where he’s been unable to keep his average above .200. On Thursday, Duran shouted at Willson Contreras when Contreras didn’t tag and score from third on a shallow fly ball Duran hit to left. Contreras downplayed the incident in the postgame, but Duran announced his feelings loud and clear.