The runs came early and often for the Sox in this one as they scored in the five of the first seven frames, including three in the opening inning to set the tone. However, the most impressive baseball of the night came in the bottom of the third.
Right after Ranger Suarez served up a grand slam to erase an early 3-0 Sox lead, Boston counterpunched and posted a pair of runs on their own. Adley Rutschman got things started with this homer, his first in a Red Sox uniform.
That bomb was impressive for two reasons: First, Rutschman’s struggled out of the gate in his Red Sox tenure, going 0 for his last 18 before this series started. So getting him off the schneid is an encouraging sign.
But secondly, the way a guy breaks out of a slump tells you a little something about how useful he might be in a playoff push, and this shot checked a bunch of boxes. It was a home run, it was crushed, it tied the game, it came right after Arizona scored four runs. Lots to like there!
Later in the inning, the impressive baseball continued with this slide by Caleb Durbin.
Granted, a bunch of this is also bad baseball by Arizona. Merrill Kelly has oscillated between being excellent and terrible all season long (and the latter version clearly showed up tonight). They’re on a rough east coast road trip. Ketel Marte went missing yesterday before heading back to Phoenix for an MRI, and they made several boneheaded plays defensively over the last two games.
But still, the Sox are taking full advantage of it, and that’s what good teams do during the dog days of summer. When you’re on the right side of games like this, you can marvel at things like this Durbin slide on repeat all night long.
Adley Rutschman: In addition to his home run, Rutschman also got the scoring started in the first inning with this bases loaded single. (He ended up getting on base three times to go along with his three RBI.)
Mickey Gasper: On base four times tonight including a home run of his own. It was not a cheapie either.
The Jimmy Fund: The annual radio-telethon broke a record and is now at $7 million and counting in donations. As a cancer survivor, Thank You to everybody who donated! Also, Thank You to all the fans who share their stories, the players who get active in the event, and the Red Sox and NESN for doing an awesome job hosting this thing every year. This one was especially outstanding!
(Also, more good news. The previous five years that were at the top of the list in donations were years the Red Sox ended up making the playoffs.)
Wilyer Abreu: Only guy in the lineup without a hit. He went 0-4, but did walk and score a run.
Bullpen management: Why are we using Erik Miller up five runs? With both Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten on the IL, the Sox need to use Tyron Guerrero and Miller as strategically as possible. They are the two best weapons to bridge the starter to Chapman in the ninth, and using Miller tonight in the eighth wasn’t a very productive use of resources.
He gets his own category here. I don’t want to give him a dud, because he did get the win and pitched well for most of the night (throwing more pitches than any outing since before going on the IL with a groin injury in July), but the top of that third inning wasn’t nothing.
The D-Backs strung a two-out rally together that culminated in a grand slam and temporarily gave Arizona the lead. On a night like this, it didn’t really matter because the Sox offense stayed on the attack. However, if Boston’s going to make a deep run in the playoffs, they can’t afford to have Suarez come off the rails like that for a random inning. We’re getting closer to the point in the calendar where they’re going to need him to lock in, and each start he doesn’t gets a little bit more concerning. Tonight was closer to what we’re looking for, but things are still not fully buttoned up. Maybe next week in Miami?
Amazingly, the most encouraging effort of the night from a big picture standpoint didn’t even come from Fenway Park. Instead, it happened in Portland, Maine, where in the first game of his rehab assignment, Roman Anthony obliterated a baseball over the right field grandstand and completely out of Hadlock Field! Mercy!
(We’re still working to get a distance on this home run, but it hasn’t landed yet.)
Anthony got on base in all four of his plate appearances, which included two walks and an opposite field base hit to go along with his mammoth home run. In some ways the opposite field 108mph single was almost as encouraging as the home run. (We’ll have more on this and the rest of that game tomorrow here at Over The Monster with Dean Roussel on Minor Lines.)
Wednesday’s game is on a bit earlier at 4:00pm, and it serves as a mini get away day for Arizona. It also gives the Sox a bit more breathing room, as they have an off day on Thursday in the middle of this homestand, their first since way back on August 3rd.
Before the rest and recovery though, Payton Tolle will take the mound going for the sweep of the snakes.
