‘Like a snake shedding its skin’: Red Sox players explain how they turned their season around

The Red Sox had the worst record in the American League at the close of business on June 24 and were 15½ games behind the Yankees in the division.

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They have since won 14 in a row and 19 of their last 21. The latest can-you-believe-this moment was a 6-5 victory against the Orioles on Monday night.

Caleb Durbin’s home run to left field with two outs in the eighth was the difference. The 51-48 Sox are one win away from tying the 1946 team for the longest win streak in franchise history.

How did this happen?

In search of answers before the game, we turned to the oldest player on the team, 38-year-old Aroldis Chapman.

“The players are happy,” Chapman said. “Everybody is enjoying the game, and we’re playing together. The atmosphere is good.”

The menacing closer is crediting good vibes and togetherness?

“On the field, the new players have made a difference,” Chapman said. “They have a lot of energy, and they want to stay here. Every day, somebody does something that helps us win.”

Chapman is right about that. Infielders Tsung-Che Cheng, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler have provided some big hits in recent weeks, and rookie lefthander Jake Bennett is 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA during the streak.

Chapman has done his part, too. He has eight saves during the 19-2 run, the latest on Monday.

Another veteran, Masataka Yoshida, was a bit more pragmatic about the streak.

“It’s part of baseball,” he said via a translator. “The first half of the season, we couldn’t turn things around. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t do it.

“Now everybody is playing with more confidence. We’re playing the way we’re supposed to be playing. We were not as bad as the record showed.”

Yoshida is 15 of 42 (.357) with seven extra-base hits and eight RBIs since June 25, shining in a part-time role.

Yoshida has not been the player the Sox expected when they signed him to a five-year, $90 million contract before the 2023 season. There have been many times over the last four seasons when Yoshida sat at his locker after games looking like a man who would rather be anywhere else.

But this run has been affirming.

“It has been fun,” Yoshida said. “Just being able to contribute to the team and this streak. As a player, that’s what you want. I’m glad to be a part of this.”

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Several players, righthanded reliever Justin Slaten among them, believe the team’s recent travel difficulties played a role in bringing the players closer together.

The Sox were delayed returning from Denver on June 24 and had a 24-hour odyssey trying to get from Chicago to New York after beating the White Sox on July 9.

“In a weird way, it gave us this [expletive] attitude that whatever happens, happens,” Slaten said. “Everything is against us, let’s just go out there and have fun.

“When something takes away everything that you think is controllable, it’s time to put up or shut up. We just went out there and played, and there were no excuses.”

As the Sox waited for a flight to New York, Slaten said the players turned to gallows humor.

“A couple of the guys were saying they felt bad for the Mets because they have no idea how mad we are,” he said. “You saw what happened.”

The Sox swept the three-game series, outscoring the Mets, 13-4.

“We were already playing well and for that to happen with three games left before the All-Star break put an exclamation point on everything,” Slaten said.

“This might seem like a weird way to say it, but the different challenges gave us a new life. It’s like a snake shedding its skin. We wiped out all the bad stuff that happened. It was pretty much the same people, and yet it was a completely new team.”

It’s also clear that interim manager Chad Tracy has hit the right notes. In part because he managed many of the players in Triple-A, but also because of how he connected with those who only knew him from spring training.

“It’s never about him,” Slaten said. “He just doesn’t have an ego. It’s just how can he help us win games and how can he let us know he’s in the fight with us. That’s been something really good for us.

“He was thrown into this impossible situation and made it work. Usually they fire the manager and the bench coach takes over. This time, they cut loose a bunch of the coaches and brought in people from different levels [of the organization].

“It’s hard to explain. But we’ve all found a way to make it work.”

As the Sox sat at their lockers absorbing another victory, “Win” by Jay Rock played on the sound system. “Get out of the way . . . win, win win, win” were among the printable lyrics.

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It was released in 2018. You can’t make this stuff up.