ABOARD THE BARCHETTA – In a prelude to history, the Tall Ships are assembling in Boston Harbor as The Eagle leads today’s flotilla to meet Old Ironsides.

It’s a day the city won’t soon forget with small boats darting in toward the majestic U.S. Coast Guard ship to snap a watery selfie.

A cool breeze is carrying the ships toward Castle Island for the parade. We’re tailing them all. I’m with Herald staff photographer Stuart Cahill as we follow the pride of nations to the docks.

A flyover is imminent as you witness the choreography planned years ahead come to life.

To our aft is the Mayflower II as it approaches Castle Island. A city tug boats nudged it into place and peeled away to shower the parade in a stream of water from its cannon.

Our past and future is forever tied to this Harbor and it is a fitting tribute today to that economic lifeline. We’re now passing Castle Island!

Two fighter jets just blasted over with the USS Constitution firing off its guns. Amazing!

Full coverage in the Herald! Today, tomorrow and forever Boston!

Reporting via Starlink on the Barchetta (which stands for “small boat,” I had to ask.)

Are the Boston Red Sox back?

They’re certainly on the right track.

Boston won its seventh consecutive game Friday night, 6-2, in its series opener against the New York Mets. The victory improved its record to 44-48, which moved the club even closer to .500 on the year.

On top of that, the win was the Red Sox’ 12th in their last 14 games.

Immediately after the final out was recorded, Boston found itself 1.5 games back of the American League’s third wild-card spot.

The win was even sweeter considering the team’s severe issues they experienced in attempting to reach Citi Field.

After they were supposed to have departed Chicago at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday night following their series sweep of the White Sox, the Red Sox’ team plane was grounded until 3 p.m. ET on Friday. Weather delays on Thursday kept them at their gate, and then mechanical problems on Friday prolonged their stay on the tarmac well into the afternoon.

Friday’s game with the Mets was originally scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m., but was pushed back until 7:50 due to Boston not landing at LaGuardia Airport until shortly after 4:30 p.m.

Starting pitcher Sonny Gray did not travel to New York ahead of time, which some starters do to get settled before their outing.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox de facto ace continued his stretch of utterly dominant pitching.

Gray tossed six innings of one-run ball, struck out three, and walked one on 91 pitches (53 strikes). He added an 11th win to his personal record in what has been an excellent season for the veteran right-hander.

Boston’s bullpen was nails, too — Tyron Guerrero, Garrett Whitlock, and Greg Weissert finished the game off in the final three innings after Gray exited. Weissert allowed New York’s second and final run in the ninth on a solo home run, but that was all she wrote in the runs column.

Offensively, the Red Sox’ bats stayed hot in what has been an unprecedented turnaround by the entire team at the plate.

Masataka Yoshida got things going in the first inning with a two-run double, but Boston was quiet until the seventh when Anthony Seigler broke things open. He hit a two-run homer to extend the lead, his second of the year, and was fired up as he rounded the bases.

After the game, Apple TV’s Heidi Watney asked Seigler how he had so much energy following the travel issues the team encountered earlier in the day. He said the club simply knew they would have to persevere, and they did just that on the diamond.

“I think that’s just how we are. It’s this whole team. It doesn’t just start with one person. I think it’s just everybody in the locker room,” Seigler said. “We were dealt some adversity today, obviously. But it doesn’t matter. We knew we were gonna come out here and handle our business, and we did.”

He even said he felt like he could suit up for another game immediately after the win.

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“I mean, I feel like we could go another nine (innings) if we needed to, honestly, with how we’re going,” Seigler said with a smile.

Seigler, who came to Boston in the Caleb Durbin trade in February, has been a total, albeit unlikely, spark plug since joining the team last month. Through 20 games, he’s slashing .292/.378/.477 with an .855 OPS, and has hit at the top of the order.

Wilyer Abreu joined in on the fun with a two-run shot of his own in the ninth to cap the Red Sox’ scoring. He finally got a hold of one after coming within feet of hitting a homer in the fifth inning.

Boston’s offensive surge couldn’t have come at a better time. The front office has yet to decide whether they will be buyers or sellers at next month’s trade deadline; the team’s hot streak could prevent chief baseball officer Craig Breslow from blowing the roster up entering the second half.

The Red Sox are still four games below .500, but capping off the first half of what was a tumultuous start to the season with a win streak and multiple series sweeps could be just what the doctor ordered with the dog days of summer looming.

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“We’re just putting great at-bats together, the whole lineup from top to bottom,” Seigler said of what’s gone right lately. “Our starter, Sonny, all of them, they just speak for themselves. And then our bullpen does a great job coming in behind them.

“It’s just fun to be around everybody. We believe in each other. Everything’s contagious. We’re all bringing high energy every day.”

Kaley Brown

Sports producer

Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.

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Kaley Brown

Sports producer

Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.

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No games have been played, but the Red Sox’s series against the New York Mets is already off to a rocky start.

That’s thanks to a series of travel issues that caused a 17-hour delay from the time Boston was supposed to depart Chicago to the time it actually took off. The Red Sox should have left Illinois at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday night, landing in New York around midnight.

Instead, the team took off at approximately 3 p.m. ET on Friday. They’ll land around 5 p.m., making it to New York just barely in time for their 7:15 p.m. game against the Mets.

The Boston Globe‘s Tim Healey and Alex Speier reported the delay, and their sources didn’t give any specific reason for the issues, just that Boston “encountered multiple plane issues in trying to continue to New York.”

As of 4 p.m. ET, the Red Sox-Mets game will continue as scheduled at 7:15 p.m. Friday. Sonny Gray is set to take the bump for Boston, which enters Friday an undefeated 6-0 on its recent road trip.