BALTIMORE -- It was supposed to be the week that slayed the Boston Red Sox.
Instead, it might be the week that propels them into October.
From the moment Rick Porcello uncorked his first pitch last Sunday at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were on the clock to play five games against four teams in four cities in a span of about 99 hours. At best, the schedule could be termed grueling. At worst, well, this is still a family website.
But the Red Sox routed the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, then squeaked by the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians for a one-run win Monday afternoon at Progressive Field. From there, it was on to Baltimore, where Mookie Betts powered them past the rival Orioles on Tuesday night.
And after six innings and a 77-minute wait through thunderstorms Wednesday night, the Red Sox stuffed a rain-shortened 8-1 victory into their bags (really, why bother unpacking?) and headed for Detroit and a 1:08 p.m. matinee Thursday against the Tigers.
As statements go, the Red Sox are making a pretty powerful one: Against all odds, they appear to be for real, after all.
"[The schedule] is definitely something that we talk about, for sure," ace lefty David Price said after tossing six solid innings to lift the Red Sox to their sixth consecutive win, matching a season high. "We've got a game in 13 hours. We're not going to be able to leave here for a while. We'll be caught up here [by the rain]. We're going to get in very early in the morning and have to play a game at 1 o'clock."
At least they won't need an alarm clock.
But while the Red Sox might talk about their sleep-deprivation and not having much time to recover from games, they haven't done much complaining, at least not publicly. They have had this week circled on the calendar for months, and rather than approaching it with dread, they have attacked it head-on.
"We've taken the approach of, 'Hey, this is where we're going,'" manager John Farrell said. "Nobody's really made any comments about it. Just show up and play. Play the games, regardless of where they are. I think the way we've just kind of let it roll off our back as no big deal."
It helps, too, to get quality starting pitching. And over the past four games, Porcello, Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez and Price combined to allow only four runs on 12 hits in 24â…” innings, taking the pressure off the offense to constantly have to slug opponents into submission.
Price got plenty of support Wednesday night. After he gave up a second-inning solo homer to Chris Davis that cleared everything in right field and landed on Eutaw Street, Jackie Bradley Jr. swatted a two-run homer, his 20th of the season and a career high at any professional level to restore a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Upstart catcher Sandy Leon added a two-run shot in the fifth.
The Red Sox pounded Orioles starter Dylan Bundy for nine hits in 4â…“ innings, then knocked around reliever Tyler Wilson before Mother Nature provided a mercy rule.
"That's a really good team," Bradley said after the second-place Red Sox moved one game ahead of the Orioles in the three-way fight for the AL East crown. "For us to be able to win two, you know it's going to help build some momentum for us going into these other games against these quality teams that we're going to be playing on the road."
The Tigers still fit that description despite losing eight of their last 10 games. And they were long finished with their 4-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals at home Thursday night when the Red Sox were first heading to the airport in Baltimore. Not even Clay Buchholz, Thursday's starting pitcher, was able to get a good night's sleep. Although the Red Sox arranged for Buchholz to travel ahead of the team, his commercial flight to Detroit was canceled because of the weather.
No matter, according to Farrell. The Red Sox will show up and play at Comerica Park, just as they did at Fenway on Sunday, at Progressive Field on Monday and Camden Yards in Baltimore on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I guess our mantra is, 'On to the next city,'" Farrell said.
And another opportunity to continue to prove it will take more than a brutal schedule to bring them down.
