BOSTON – At last, the comforts of home were felt by the Red Sox. And not a second too soon.
When Mickey Gasper, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu scraped the Green Monster on three consecutive pitches for doubles in a furious, fifth-inning sequence, Fenway felt alive in a way that has been infrequent this season.
Though the doubles by Gasper (.090 expected batting average) and Abreu (.010) were hardly rockets, and rather misplayed by Nicky Lopez, who had moved from second base to left field to start the inning, they also represented a team getting some breaks from the quirky dimensions of its home park – and finally taking advantage of them.
For the Red Sox, Friday night’s 10-1 victory over the Rangers snapped a streak of five straight home series that opened with a loss. By winning either of the final two games of this series, Boston would win its first set at Fenway since taking the April 8 rubber match against the Brewers.
Yeah, it has been a while for a team that has underachieved as a whole (28-39), and glaringly so (11-21) at a Fenway that hasn’t been friendly enough in ‘26.
But the clock is ticking, and the Sox know it.
During Thursday’s off-day, club president/CEO Sam Kennedy said in a radio interview that “unless things change dramatically," the Red Sox might have to detour from the preferred buyer’s lane and shift to sellers prior to the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline.
There was no dramatic change in the way Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.03 ERA) performed.
The 36-year-old veteran (one of the bright lights for the Sox this season) set the tone by scattering five hits and a run over six innings while walking none and punching out seven.
Aside from that triple-double sequence, the offense got a solo shot that soared into the Monster seats from Willson Contreras in the first inning and a solo rocket to center by Abreu in the seventh.
After taking part in the doubles fest in the fifth, Rafaela added on some extra damage with a two-run homer in the eighth, before Abreu and Contreras hit back-to-back doubles to keep the ball rolling and drive in the 10th and final run.