Surging Sunday Sox end 1st half 'thinking big'

BOSTON -- Just call them the Sunday Sox.

Once again, manager Alex Cora’s team ended a weekend in style, nipping the Royals, 5-4, at Fenway Park to improve to 15-1 on Sundays.

Not only did that winning performance end the weekend, but it ended the pre All-Star break portion of the season, in which the surging Red Sox went 53-42.

The Sox opened up a two-game lead against the Royals, the team just below them in the quest for the third American League Wild Card spot.

Boston is only 4 1/2 games back in the AL East after staring at a 14-game deficit exactly a month ago.

“So far so good, but we have bigger goals than having a good first part of the season,” said Cora. “We’re 4 1/2 games back from the lead in the East. That's what we're shooting for. The whole talk about the Wild Card and all that, it should be in the past. Let’s think big and see what happens.”

Why has Sunday become the best day of the week for the Red Sox? It is probably just one of those fluky things that happens during a baseball season. Kind of like how there isn’t much explanation for the team’s spotty record (4-12) on Fridays.

“I didn't know that. So I guess that's for you guys to find out and tell me,” said All-Star Jarren Duran (4-for-5), who played a big role in the Sunday trend continuing.

A couple of days ago, Cora mentioned how the team’s new chaplain is “really good.” How was the turnout at chapel prior to Sunday’s rubber match against the Royals?

“It was packed,” Cora said, as he got set to walk off the stage after his pregame press conference. “Let’s go!”

And go the Red Sox did.

Here are some key elements that made the latest Sunday victory possible.

Duran’s … double?
Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Duran hit a seeing-eye single through the hole on the right side at a modest exit velocity of 90.9 mph. Well, it should have been a single. At least until the always-hustling Duran decided it wasn’t. As the ball moved slowly into the glove of Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel, Duran roared into second, sliding in safely.

“I committed right out of the box, because I knew it was a chopper, it was gonna slow down by the time it got to the grass,” said Duran. “And yeah, I was just committed the whole way, so I knew coming out of the box I was gonna take two.”

What did that type of hustle show Cora?

“It tells you that we were ready to play today,” said Cora. “Today's one of those days that you're thinking about your flight and all that stuff, and you can like shut it down and you don't post. And when you got a guy like that setting the tone, it’s always good.”

Raffy mauls one
Though Devers was named an All-Star for the third time in the last four years, he declined the invitation to Texas so he can rest a nagging injury in the AC joint of his left shoulder.

Devers made his last day before the break count when he rewarded Duran for his hustle double by crushing a two-out, two-run homer down the right-field line that had a 114.7 mph exit velocity and traveled a Statcast projected 439 feet. Oh, the missile also broke the seat that it landed in.

“It did?” Cora asked when told about the broken seat. “Got to tell [owner] John [Henry].”

Not to worry. The Fenway maintenance crew swiftly made the repair in-game.

As for Devers, he is on fire, ripping nine of his 23 homers on the season in the 17 games since June 24. He is hitting .375 with a 1.319 OPS during that span.

Kenley’s career first
While Sunday’s save for Kenley Jansen was the 439th of his career in the regular season, it was the first of those 439 of the six-out variety. Jansen does have two six-out postseason saves on his resume, including one in the 2017 World Series.

It was the perfect storm, as Jansen hadn’t pitched since last Sunday at Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox won’t play again until Friday at Dodger Stadium.

“For me, having a week off basically, I was going to have the freshest arm,” said Jansen. “So I think it was a great day to pick all my guys up today.”

“It was a fun game,” said Cora.

Indeed. Another Sunday, fun day for the Red Sox.