Red Sox showing they can put it all together, win fourth straight

The Sox improved to 36-36, their first time at .500 since May 24, the day they lost Alex Bregman to the injured list.

They have won four games in a row and six out of seven, and they have taken three consecutive series — two against the Yankees, who at 42-27 remain atop the AL East.

Get Starting Point

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.

“Our goal was to get back to .500, and it really doesn’t matter against who,” manager Alex Cora said. “There are a lot of ways to make it to October. Now, we’re back to point zero. Neutral. So we just gotta keep playing well. We played well in New York, we played well against Tampa, and these two games were pretty solid.”

Rob Refsnyder echoed: “I’d be lying to say it doesn’t feel daunting when you’re a couple of games under .500. To get to the postseason, to get to where we want to be, we’ve gotta be over .500. It’s nice to get a little reset.”

And Dobbins: “We’re crawling back into this race. There’s a lot of season left.”

Red Sox starter Hunter Dobbins (right) allowed three runs over 11 innings in consecutive starts against the Yankees.Barry Chin/Globe Staff

This is the first time since 1989 that the Red Sox have won four in a row when scoring four or fewer runs in each game.

The Yankees cut a four-run deficit in half in the top of the seventh and threatened for more — until Narváez, continuing to haunt his former club, made a heads-up play to end the inning.

With two runners on and Aaron Judge on deck, Trent Grisham whiffed for strike two. Thinking it was strike three, Jasson Domínguez lackadaisically wound up between second and third base. Narváez fired to shortstop Story, who threw to Mayer, who applied the tag for the surprise out.

In the visitors’ dugout, Yankees manager Aaron Boone appeared dumbfounded.

“No excuses, I made a mistake,” Domínguez said.

Dobbins turned in perhaps the best outing of his rookie season — the fifth consecutive game the Red Sox received at least six innings from their starting pitcher, a full turn through the rotation, a massive improvement over the preceding stretch.

Dobbins held them to two hits and a walk. And he struck out five, including Judge in each of his first two at-bats, swinging at a curveball both times.

“He gave us more than enough,” said Cora, who trusted Dobbins to pitch to the top of the batting order for a third time, which hadn’t been the case in recent outings. “Like I said before the game, if we pitch, we should be OK.”

The Red Sox plated four runs (three earned) and seven hits in five-plus innings against lefthander Carlos Rodón, the second time in a week he got out-pitched by Dobbins.

Another day brought another round of lineup machinations, with Cora managing a roster that — as he described it — has “shifted” via a series of injuries, most recently to Wilyer Abreu (left oblique strain).

The latest iteration featured Duran batting fifth, the first time since May 12, 2024, that he was slotted lower than first or second.

That allowed Cora to put his lefty-crushers, Refsnyder (2 for 3 against Rodón) and Romy Gonzalez (RBI double off Rodón), in the Nos. 1 and 3 spots, respectively.

Moving down Duran, who has struggled against lefthanded pitchers this year and in his career, probably will be a regular occurrence for as long as the Sox field this position-player group.

“We’re going to maximize Romy and Ref,” Cora said before the game. “Against righties, we’ll go the way we’ve been doing it [with Duran at the top]. Against lefties, with the personnel that we have, this makes sense.”

Story’s ground ball up in the middle in the fourth inning not only brought in a run but became a double when — following a big turn at first base — he decided to go for it. Grisham’s throw beat him, but Volpe seemed unaware Story was even in the vicinity.

“I knew Grisham had to go a ways for it, I knew I didn’t hit it that hard,” Story said. “And I saw that Volpe was off the bag a little bit. It was kind of a perfect-timing scenario and I felt like I could make it.”

That moment was representative of what the Red Sox have done better lately, attention to difference-making details — sometimes via fundamental play, sometimes via aggressive play.

“You can create momentum that way, too. It’s not all about the big swings or the big innings,” Story said. “We’re looking to ride this momentum. Keep pitching well, keep hitting well and we can win a lot of games that way.”

Tim Healey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @timbhealey.