Red Sox’s rotation joins franchise elite after Yankees sweep

The Boston Red Sox are still far away from where they envisioned themselves would be heading into the 2026 MLB season. The team might be in a state of euphoria after completing an emphatic three-game sweep of the New York Yankees over the weekend, but even then, the Red Sox are still way below .500 with a 36-46 record on the season.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox have a few reasons to be hopeful when it comes to mounting a second-half turnaround considering how their pitching staff has locked in over the past week or so. Including the Red Sox’s 5-4 win over the Yankees in extra innings on Sunday, Boston has now received 11 consecutive quality starts from its rotation, which is the franchise’s longest streak since 1988, as per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Nightengale also added that this streak ties their second-longest quality start streak since 1933, which means that this current Red Sox rotation has achieved something that not too many pitchers for the franchise before them have done. (A start is considered a quality one when a starting pitcher works at least six innings while giving up just three runs or fewer.)

Sonny Gray was the latest to have a quality outing for the Red Sox. On Sunday, he allowed just one hit and one walk to the Yankees while striking out nine across 7.1 shutout innings. His elite start nearly went to waste after the Yankees tied the game in the ninth, but Jarren Duran bailed Boston out with a walk-off single in the 10th.

Against the Yankees, young pitchers Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, and Jake Bennett got the ball rolling for the Red Sox. Early limited the Yankees to just two runs across six innings, Tolle, much like Gray did, also shut out New York across seven innings (striking out seven), while Bennett allowed just one run in 6.1 innings of work in the first, second and third games, respectively, of the series.

With the pitching staff doing its job, the Red Sox’s offense will need to wake up, being the 29th-ranked team in MLB in terms of runs scored at present.

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