BALTIMORE -- For a player used to hitting home runs, a drought of 21 games was a noticeable dry spell.
One swing early in Saturday’s game changed that for Rafael Devers, and the blast was a prelude to a relentless display of offense, the Red Sox churning out a season-high 21 hits as they rolled to a 17-4 shellacking of the Orioles at Camden Yards.
"That's something we talk about as a group,” said manager Alex Cora. “Just a friendly reminder that we are really good. When we do our thing, when we are disciplined, we are that team. But we haven't been consistent and we are where we are because we have been very inconsistent in our approach.
“But there are days like that, you are like, 'You know what, yeah. We are really good. We are really good.’ But it is what it is. It is where we are at and just got to keep playing. [Sunday] we got a chance to win the series."
Devers went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, launching his fourth career grand slam in the first off Orioles starter Jordan Lyles -- a 425-foot no-doubter over the left-center-field wall with an exit velocity of 104.6 mph and a launch angle of 29 degrees -- to provide Boston’s offense with the jump start it needed to snap a four-game skid.
"I was trying to look for my pitch,” Devers said via translator Carlos Villoria. “That’s the same thing that I do every day, try to help my team win, and today I was lucky enough the ball went out.
"It was very important for me to get that confidence of hitting the ball that well. I haven't hit a ball that well in a while, so, yeah, that boosts my confidence a lot, and that is something I am really happy for."
Kiké Hernández had four hits, two runs and an RBI. Eight Red Sox hitters had more than one base hit. The barrage of offense included seven hits in a row for Boston, spanning the fourth and fifth frames, that helped add on six runs.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Red Sox had base hits in seven straight plate appearances was May 20, 2021, against Toronto.
Devers’ last homer came on August 14 against the Yankees, and his power drought lasted 93 plate appearances over 21 games. The mammoth shot also lifted Devers out of a 1-for-13 funk. The third baseman had left 12 runners on base in his past four games.
"I feel bad because my mentality has never changed,” Devers said. “I feel really bad because [of] the position the team is in right now. It's not where we wanted to be.”
The 25-year-old’s second grand slam of the season took advantage of Lyles, who was struggling to throw strikes early on, walking leadoff hitter Tommy Pham, allowing a single to Alex Verdugo and hitting Xander Bogaerts with a pitch.
“We loaded the bases,” Cora said. “He took two changeups. He hasn't done that against them the whole season. This is his first hit with men in scoring position against the O's this season. I think he was 0-for-14. He has been chasing pitches, and [he's had] a lot of weak contact. He was patient enough in the first two [pitches], and then he didn't try to do too much in that pitch and drove the ball to left-center.”
On Friday, the Red Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. But they went 11-for-17 Saturday. In their four previous games, Boston had scored a combined nine runs.
Red Sox starter Michael Wacha improved to 11-1 with a strong six innings, allowing three runs and scattering six hits, striking out five and walking none on 82 pitches (60 strikes). He has not lost in 11 consecutive starts dating back to his only loss of the season, a 2-1 loss to the Reds on May 31. Boston is 14-5 when Wacha starts. He said Devers’ grand slam was big as he took the mound.
"That's huge right there,” Wacha said. “Raffy coming in there clutch with the bases loaded, put us up big. And as a starting pitcher, we love that kind of stuff right there. It makes our job a lot easier going out there. … We are going to get ahead and we are going to stay in the attack mode and let the defense play behind us.”
Pham left the game after the fourth with a left shin contusion. He is listed as day to day and said postgame that he would be back in the lineup Sunday.