The Boston Red Sox are slowly, but surely starting to look like the club many expected them to be this season.
Boston spent the offseason upgrading the starting rotation. Boston acquired both Johan Oviedo and Sonny Gray and signed Ranger Suárez. Oviedo is on the Injured List, but didn't make the rotation out of camp anyway because of the emergence of Connelly Early. The Red Sox have built this club on pitching and defense. Defensively, the Red Sox have gotten what they're looking for. Boston is third in baseball as a team in outs above average with 15. So, there you have it, the defense has been fixed after a few rough years.
The rotation wasn't great to begin the season, but things are certainly turning a corner. Connelly Early tossed seven shutout innings on Friday night to cool down the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays. On Wednesday, Sonny Gray pitched five shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers. On Tuesday, Brayan Bello came in behind an opener and pitched seven innings and allowed one run. On Monday, Payton Tolle tossed seven innings without an earned run. Overall, the rotation is trending up, and Suárez is healthy and Garrett Crochet should be back soon.
In general, the Red Sox's pitching has been lights-out over the last few weeks. Over the last 15 days, the Red Sox have a team ERA of 2.79. Over the last seven days, the Red Sox have a team ERA of 2.45.
This club is built for pitching and defense and both are working right now.
The offense has even started to turn a corner. Boston entered Friday's contest with four straight games with four or more runs scored, which was a season-high. It was snapped on Friday, but the pitching and defense delivered and the Red Sox won 2-0. Boston doesn't even have Roman Anthony right now, although he should return next week.
The "Chad Sox" are 7-5 since interim manager Chad Tracy took over. Now, the Red Sox are 17-22 on the season and actually have the same number of wins as the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles now. This club is turning a corner and is going to get hot. When they do, they are going to move up in the standings and shock the baseball world. This is a club that fired its manager and looked poised to sit near the bottom of the standings all season. Right now, it looks like the worst part is done and behind the club.