Rick Porcello. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- The Red Sox have won 71 of their first 102 games for the first time in franchise history and they're 40 games over .500 for the first time since 1949.
Rick Porcello earned his team-leading 12th win in yesterday's 5-3 survival of the last-place Orioles, but don't expect the 2016 Cy Young winner to get cocky about Boston's MLB lead.
"We built a nice foundation for ourselves so far this season, and we still have a lot of baseball to play, we've got to keep going," he said. "It's not like we're winning this division by fifteen games, I mean, the Yankees are right there, so we gotta keep playing good baseball to try to win the division and get in the playoffs."
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He's right. It's a six-game lead on the Yankees.
Sox and O's again tonight at 7:05 p.m. Drew Pomeranz will make his first big league start since May 31st. Last year's 17-game winner was placed on the disabled list with biceps tendenitis, then a neck problem, after posting a 6.81 ERA through eight starts. Pomeranz allowed just a solo homer in six frames in his latest rehab start for Pawtucket. The Birds will counter with winless rookie Yefry Ramirez. The righty has a 3.09 ERA in five appearances, including a 5-1 loss to Boston last month.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports