Red Sox Wallop Athletics 13-1 – Now 27-3 In Last 30 Games

Payton Tolle struck out 14 Athletics in six innings on Friday night, the most strikeouts by a Boston pitcher at age 23 or younger since Fat Billy From Ohio fanned 20 Mariners on April 29, 1986, as the Red Sox walloped the Athletics 13-1. Tolle had a career-high 24 swings-and-misses.

Boston is 27-3 over the last 30 games.

Tolle struck out the side in the second, fourth, and sixth innings (231 323). He allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth and an infield single to start the sixth. The Athletics hit only three of Tolle's 84 pitches out of the infield – and only one of Raymond Burgos's 34 pitches in relief.

Some context on the Red Sox's white-hot streak:

Sarah Langs (and Elias): 

The Red Sox are the 10th team since 1900 to enjoy a 27-3 run – and only the third team in the last 73 years. The 1977 Royals and 2017 Clevelands are the others.

The Red Sox began this 27-3 run with a 37-48 record. They are the first team in major league history to win at least 27 games in a 30-game span while entering that span 10+ games under .500. (Only two other teams began a similar 30-game stretch with a record below .500: the 1916 Giants (three games under) and the 1887 St. Louis Browns (one game under).

On June 25, Boston was 32-46. Now they are 64-51. The Red Sox are the fastest team in major league history to go from 14 games under .500 to 13 games over: 44 days, according to Elias. The previous quickest was accomplished 112 years ago by a different Boston team: 59 days, by the 1914 "Miracle" Braves.

The Red Sox began July at 37-47. They ended the month at 58-51. They are the first team in major league history to enter a calendar month 10+ games under .500 and leave that month at least seven games over .500, per Elias. (In fact, only two teams had entered a month 10+ games under and ended the month two games over: Giants (July 2019) and Red Sox (August 1996).

Boston's 21-4 (.840) record in July is the highest winning percentage in a calendar month in franchise history (min. 15 games).

OptaSTATS:

In July the @RedSox:
won 20+ games

had a 15+ game winning streak

had 10+ comeback wins

swept a 9+ game road trip

had a .900+ road win pct
No other team in MLB history has done all of that in a single month.

The Red Sox have won 19 consecutive games against teams from the three largest metro areas in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago). That's the longest winning streak by any team against opponents from those three metro areas in major league history. . . . The previous record for longest winning streak against foes from the NY/LA/Chicago metro areas was 17 by the 1915 St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League (6 vs. Brooklyn Tip-Tops, 6 vs. Newark Peppers, 5 vs. Chicago Whales).

Payton Tolle is the only MLB pitcher to throw fewer than 85 pitches and have 14+ strikeouts (since pitches were first tracked in 1988).

Lowest ratio of pitches to strikeouts in a major league game (since 1988, min. 75 pitches):
1 K every 5.95 pitches - Max Scherzer, Nationals (9-6-2-0-20, 119) against Tigers, May 11, 2016
1 K every 6.00 pitches - Payton Tolle, Red Sox (6-2-1-0-14, 84) against Athletics August 7, 2026
1 K every 6.10 pitches - Kerry Wood, Cubs (9-1-0-0-20, 122) against Astros, May 6, 1998

P.S.: It's nuts that it took until 1988 for major league baseball to keep track of pitches on any sort of organized basis. That was the National League's 113th season. MLB also waited until 1984 to make on-base percentage, which measures a batter's most essential task (not making an out), an official stat.

"Biologically Incapable Of Losing": Unstoppable Red Sox Are 26-3 and 31-5 After Astonishing 13-Inning Walkoff; Postseason Odds Up From 9% to 97%

Since the Red Sox lost to the Rockies way back on June 24, the team has won 31 of 36 games, a streak that includes a franchise-tying 15-game winning streak. It is the best 36-game stretch in team history.

Boston is 17-0 against first-place teams in that span, and is the first team to record six sweeps of first-place teams in one season since divisional play began in 1969 – and they accomplished that feat over only six weeks.

June 25-28:       Swept 4 games from first-place Yankees
July 7-9:         Swept 3 games from first-place White Sox
July 17-19:       Swept 4 games from first-place Rays
July 31-August 2: Swept 3 games from first-place Dodgers
August 4-6:       Swept 3 games from first-place White Sox

The Red Sox have won nine straight series, the second-longest streak in team history; the 1912 team won 11 consecutive series from August 4 to September 15, 1912.

Boston has won its last 28 games in which they score at least four runs. And the Red Sox have won 26 of their last 29 games, something only three other teams have accomplished in the last 73 seasons (1977 Royals, 2002 Athletics, 2017 Clevelands).

Boston's record stands at 63-51; they are five games behind Tampa Bay and a mere half-game behind the Yankees. While Boston has gone 31-5, the Rays have gone 24-15 (third best in MLB). A 63-51 record would easily lead both the AL Central (by four games) and AL West (by five games).

After games of June  24: 1st Yankees (48-31), 15.5 GA of 5th Red Sox (32-46)
After games of August 6: 2nd Yankees (64-51),  0.5 GA of 3rd Red Sox (63-51)

Since June 24, the Red Sox are fifth in MLB in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage and third in runs scored. Before their hot streak started, they were projected to have a 9% chance of making the postseason. Those odds now stand at 96.1%, with a 15.3% chance of winning the pennant and a 7% chance of winning the World Series.

J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) states: "The Red Sox are the 26th team in the World Series Era (1903-present) to go 30-5 or better in a 35-game stretch. Each of the other 25 made the Postseason (10 of them won the World Series)."

Boston's 12-11 victory last night at Fenway (against the AL-Central leading White Sox) was the most impressive victory in [fill in the blank] years:

Chicago White Sox – 004 120 000 211 0 – 11 13  1
Boston Red Sox    – 002 301 001 211 1 – 12 16  2

I've loved looking at linescores for all sorts of oddities for nearly a half-century, and it fuckin kills me  that I can no longer enjoy extra-inning linescores because Commissioner Asshole Motherfucker decided that one of the most foundational rules of the game should suddenly change – for no meaningful or logical reason and no observable or measurable benefit – if there is a tenth (or later) inning. It means I can't fully enjoy the Red Sox's linescore above, or this minor league game from roughly a month ago (July 4):

Great Lakes - 000 300 020 121 21 - 12 17  3
Fort Wayne  - 120 000 000 121 22 - 13 15  1

If this had happened when all innings were created equal, it would be mind-blowing. Instead, it's a cute curiosity.

The quote in the post title comes from Reddit: "This team is biologically incapable of losing. I have no idea what happened to them."

Meanwhile, in MFY-land: