If you haven’t been paying attention, you might just miss the fact that the Boston Red Sox are actually a fun baseball team to watch.
Boston won their season-high eighth straight game by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, and they did it by exploding for five runs in the fifth inning and getting solid pitching from the mound.
Boston added two runs off Phillies reliever Connor Brogdon in the sixth.
“We believe in this team. The atmosphere in the clubhouse,” Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen told Ken Rosenthal via Fox Sports: MLB. “These guys wanting to work, to win. Just try to do the little stuff. Try to be consistent and do the great stuff every day. And that’s what we’ve been doing. We don’t have things handed to us. We have so many games that we come from behind, and that offense shows that nothing rattles them.”
Corey Kluber gave the Red Sox the chance to win by allowing only three runs off seven hits across five innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen.
John Schreiber, Brennan Bernardino and Josh Winckowski put together three innings for Boston, allowing one run in the seventh — a solo home run by Trae Turner off Bernardino’s 84-MPH changeup.
Jansen came into the ninth with the opportunity to capture save No. 399 of his career, and he did just that. Jansen is one shy of joining the elite group of closers with 400 saves.
“It means a lot, man,” Jansen said. “It definitely means motivation, because I ain’t done yet. So, I’m here for two (years), but you know, I’m planning to stay a whole lot more after this one. So it’s going to be my motivation to see how far I can reach. I love this game.”
Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Phillies game:
— Ramiel Tapia stole his fourth base of the season for Boston. The Red Sox are now 22-for-23 for the best-stolen base percentage in Major League Baseball.
— At 21-14, the Red Sox currently have the MLB’s fourth-best record behind only the Tampa Bay Rays (27-7), Baltimore Orioles (22-11) and Atlanta Braves (23-11). Boston holds the second Wild Card spot in the American League.
— The Red Sox have scored 59 runs over the last eight games while giving up 34 runs to their opponents.
— The Red Sox wrap up the interleague series with the Phillies on Sunday afternoon, seeking the series sweep. First pitch from Citizens Bank Park is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
