Red Sox vs Orioles Series Review

A Blog By Dean

Overall Takeaway

All four of these games were hard-fought wins. Even Tuesday’s game was grueling, with Bradish pitching awesome. Red Sox now sit 3.5 games out of the division, while having a comfortable cushion in the Wild Card.

This was sort of a revenge series after Baltimore swept Boston last week in their two-game season, and it also gives the Red Sox the series win against the Orioles.

While some say the Red Sox have a difficult schedule to end the year, I just see a bunch of Ws (maybe not Detroit). Here are the series that are left.

Pirates, Cleveland, Arizona, Athletics, Yankees, Athletics, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Detroit.

I really hope the division is within reach for that Toronto series, the momentum of winning the division will bode well for the playoff run.

Game 1: Red Sox 4-3

Game 2: Red Sox 5-0

Game 3: Red Sox 3-2

Game 4: Red Sox 3-2

What I Loved

• Bullpen

  • The Boston Red Sox bullpen gave up ZERO runs this series. Even Jordan Hicks was able to go out there and not explode.

• David Hamilton

  • Going into Thursday’s game, Hamilton was batting .421 over his last seven games. Insane turn around from earlier this year.

• Connor Wong

  • Similar to Hamilton, I have to apologize to Connor Wong for putting him in the “Didn't Love” section for the entirety of this year. He is batting .286 over his last 15 games and has raised his AVG to…. .194 for the season. Baby steps.

• Brayan Bello

  • Bello has been a reliable mid-rotation anchor for the Red Sox in 2025, making 24 starts with a 10-6 record, showcasing improved command and ground-ball tendencies (career-high GB% around 55%) that have limited hard contact. His season ERA of 2.99 ranks 15th in MLB among qualified starters, a significant bounce-back from his 4.49 ERA in 2024, driven by better location on his sinker and changeup, reducing home runs allowed (down to 0.6 HR/9 post-All-Star break last year, continuing into 2025).

• Roman Anthony

  • This was Anthony’s best series of the season. Raised his average from .283 to .291, and hit two home runs, making that five for August after only hitting two between June and July.

• Lucas Giolito

  • 8 innings of shutout ball with eight strikeouts for the best start of his Red Sox career. While he has been great the majority of the year, he has only had three other games where he gave up no runs. His ERA dropped from 3.72 to 3.47 with this start.

• Trevor Story

  • Story’s OPS is still somehow only .736, but it is clear (look at Cora and Crochet's comments) that Story is the leader of this team. I feel, total speculation, that Devers’ leaving made it a lot easier for Story to be “that guy” in the clubhouse. I know Devers wasn’t ever a vocal person, but he was the face of the franchise with a giant contract that looms large.

• Garrett Crochet

  • This start doesn’t really move the needle either way when it comes to Cy Young votes. Garrett’s ERA rose slightly to 2.40, while he gave up a home run for the 4th game in a row.

What I Was "Mid" About

• Cedanne Rafaela

  • I posted this earlier, and it rings very true. Rafaela was great this series, but the team needs to stop putting him at second base.

  

What I Didn't Love

• Masataka Yoshida

  • With Wilyer Abreu coming back, I don’t really know where Yoshida will fit in the lineup.

If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing below!