The Boston Red Sox's pursuit of a 15th consecutive win, which would tie a franchise record set in 1946, was postponed on Tuesday, July 21, after rain forced the cancellation of their game against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.
Boston enters the make-up date carrying a 14-game winning streak, the longest active run in Major League Baseball this season and the second-longest in franchise history. The Red Sox extended the streak to 14 on Monday night, beating the Orioles 6-5 on a go-ahead home run from infielder Caleb Durbin in the eighth inning. The only longer streak in team history is a 15-game run in 1946, achieved by a Red Sox team led by Hall of Famer Ted Williams. Tuesday's rainout means Boston's attempt to match that mark will now come as part of a doubleheader against Baltimore on Wednesday, July 22, with games scheduled for 1:35 p.m. and 7:10 p.m. Eastern Time.
The streak marks a dramatic turnaround for a Red Sox team that held the worst record in the American League as recently as late June and trailed the division-leading New York Yankees by 15 and a half games at the time. Since then, Boston has won 19 of its last 21 games, a stretch that has pulled the club back into playoff contention with the July 21 trade deadline period now shifting some outside evaluators to view the Red Sox as buyers rather than sellers heading toward the season's stretch run.
The run has been built on a mix of timely hitting and a rotation that has steadied itself over the past month, with the four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend serving as the streak's most complete display to date. Boston capped that series with a come-from-behind win on Saturday after trailing by three runs, a result manager and players alike pointed to afterward as evidence of the team's shift in confidence.
Boston will need to win at least the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader to draw level with the 1946 mark, with a sweep of both games needed to set an outright new franchise record. The Orioles, who had themselves been on a seven-game winning streak before running into Boston's current form, will look to be the team that finally halts the Red Sox's run. Regardless of Wednesday's outcome, the turnaround has repositioned Boston as one of the more notable storylines heading into August's trade deadline.
