The Baltimore Orioles ended the Boston Red Sox's 15-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory in the nightcap of Wednesday's day-night doubleheader at Fenway Park. Boston had already won the opener 6-3, but the second game closed the door on a run that tied the club record.
The loss left the Red Sox at 52-49 and still in possession of a wild-card spot, a sharp turn from where they were when the streak began at 37-48. They were also seven games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East after Wednesday night, even after a stretch that pulled them from 15 1/2 games back on June 24 into relevance again.
That is why the streak drew so much attention once it kept climbing. Fans packed Fenway Park for the nightcap, with 38,005 in the seats for the 12th sellout of the season, and the atmosphere matched the way the run had started to feel. Caleb Durbin said it became different once the Red Sox were three or four wins from the mark, when each game started to feel like a playoff game because everyone wanted to get there.
The size of the run also sharpened the next question: whether the way Boston has been winning can last. The streak came with a lineup that had to do more with less and a pitching approach that kept the score down enough to let narrow games swing the Red Sox's way. That helped produce 15 straight wins, but it also made the margin for error thin, which is why a night like Wednesday can turn a celebrated stretch into a warning sign just as fast.
There is still value in reaching a wild-card spot after being 11 games under.500, but only if the Red Sox keep cashing in on the position they fought back into. They will need to keep winning series and, now and then, stack four in a row again if they want the streak to mean anything beyond a line in the record book. The task ahead is less about reliving the run than proving it was the start of something sturdier.
