Caleb Durbin’s home run in the bottom of the eighth finished off a comeback resulting in the Boston Red Sox winning their 14th consecutive game, defeating the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Monday night at Fenway Park.
The 14-game win streak is the second-longest in team history. With the victory, the Red Sox ended the Orioles’ run of seven straight wins.
Monday’s game was the second in MLB history in which two teams with winning streaks of at least seven games and combining for at least 20 consecutive wins played each other. The last time that happened was in 1884 when the St. Louis Maroons put their 12-game streak against the Washington Nationals’ 11-game run.
The Orioles made the Red Sox work for their 14th straight win. In the ninth, Boston closer Aroldis Chapman walked Colton Cowser to lead off the frame. Chapman then struck out Ward Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso. But Baltimore put runners on second and third on a Gunnar Henderson double.
Chapman closed out the win, getting Tyler O’Neill to line out to shortstop on a 102 mph sinker.
The Orioles’ first run may have provided a sign that it wasn’t going to be the Red Sox’s night. Following a two-out double by Gunnar Henderson, Tyler O’Neill sliced a ball down the right-field line that closely bounced in foul territory and went into the stands near Pesky’s Pole.
That resulted in a ground-rule double that scored Henderson and gave Baltimore a 1-0 lead.
Boston went ahead 2-1 in the third on an RBI double from Wilyer Abreu to score Ceddanne Rafaela, who reached base on a throwing error by Orioles second baseman Jeremiah Jackson. Willson Contreras increased the Red Sox lead to two with a single off Henderson’s glove at shortstop.
The Orioles tied the score at 3-3 on a Christian Encarnacion-Strand home run in the fifth and RBI single from Jackson in the sixth. Encarnacion-Strand then put Baltimore back on top with a single up the middle that scored Leody Taveras.
A sixth-inning RBI single from Contreras resulted in a 4-4 tie. But the Orioles regained the lead in the seventh. Taylor Ward led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a Pete Alonso single. Ward was then driven home on an RBI groundout by O’Neill.
However, Baltimore just couldn’t put the Red Sox away. In the seventh, Rafaela tied the game again by driving in Tsung-Che Cheng with a two-out single.
This story will be updated with more information.
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