The Boston Red Sox have fared poorly against left-handers this season.

Entering their series finale in Cincinnati they ranked 3rd in the Majors in strikeouts against southpaw starters, with the 8th-fewest home runs, and 12th-lowest slugging percentage. (They did, however, have the 8th-most walks.)

But the Red Sox have been one of the hottest offenses in the game this month. They’ve also dominated on Sundays, and save for one dicey inning, that trend continued in a 7-4 victory over the Reds — Boston’s fourth straight series win, putting the Sox six games over .500 for the first time since the first week of September 2023.

Combined with the Kansas City Royals’ loss, the Red Sox officially hold the third American League wild card.

Led by Jarren Duran’s 3 for 5 afternoon, the lineup collected 10 hits for their 11th double-digit game in June. They only had six such performances scattered among their 28 May games, and 12 in the 30 games between Opening Day and the end of April.

“What Jarren’s doing in the leadoff spot, it’s fun to watch,” Alex Cora told reporters. “It felt like they saw the ball well.”

Cincinnati had won Nick Lodolo’s last five starts, but the Boston bats knocked the Reds starter out of the game after 4 2/3 innings, his shortest start of the season. They tagged the southpaw for four runs (three earned) on five hits, and struck out three times.

Lodolo, who entered the day with a significantly-better-than-league-average 5.8 walk percentage dating to the start of 2023, issued a season-high four walks, tied for the second-most of his career. Inconsistent umpiring helped things along on more than one occasion, with several pitches on the edge of the zone going the way of the free pass. His third walk, to first baseman Dom Smith in the fourth, was the last straw for Reds manager David Bell, who got his money’s worth in his 30th career ejection to tie Sparky Anderson’s franchise record.

Boston had chances to score early on. Rob Refsnyder and Tyler O’Neill got on base with a one-out walk and single in the first, only to be stranded. Likewise for Duran, who singled — extending his hitting streak to 13 games — and stole his 20th base of the season in the top of the third. He and David Hamilton (21 steals) are the only MLB teammates with 20+ steals this season, and according to Elias Sports Bureau, they join Tommy Dowd and Chick Stahl as the only Red Sox teammates to steal 20+ bases in the first 80 games of a season; Dowd and Stahl did so in the club’s inaugural season in 1901.

Once the Red Sox got to Lodolo in fourth, they got him good. Rafael Devers drew a leadoff walk (though Ball No. 4 was another one on the edge of the zone), and on the first pitch he saw, Connor Wong blasted his seventh home run of the season to give Boston a 2-0 lead and extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

...continued

©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.