BOSTON -- At last, it felt like summer at Fenway Park again. Not because of the weather, which included 80 degrees at first pitch.
More because of the noises made by the home crowd reacting to things the home team did.
For one of the rare times in recent weeks, the Red Sox had nine innings of pure fun at Fenway Park, making it look like the homefield advantage it should be while rolling to an 8-1 victory over the Orioles on Wednesday night.
All nine starting position players had at least one hit, led by three each from Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela.
The moans and groans that had come from 12 home losses in the previous 15 games were replaced by loud cheers from the sold-out crowd of 36,872.
“Much needed, especially at Fenway Park,” said Contreras. “I see a lot of people talking [expletive] about us. We have to take that personally, and we have to have some pride about our career and our game, and we showed up tonight to win.”
The Sox (26-34) finally won their 10th game this season at Fenway, becoming the last team in the Majors to reach double-digit home wins.
But it isn’t too late for the worm to turn, and there were indications in this one that better times could be ahead for a team that has a chance to win its first series at home since April 8 with a rubber-match triumph on Thursday afternoon.
“Seeing the hits pile up and continuing to add on runs here was a welcome sight,” said interim manager Chad Tracy.
There was a buzz in the air that was created by the Red Sox playing from ahead and staying ahead.
When Wilyer Abreu hit a towering shot pinned so closely down the line in right that everyone was in suspended animation for a second or two -- including Abreu himself -- there were roars when it was ruled a fair ball for a two-run homer.
For Abreu, it snapped an 85 at-bat homerless streak dating back to May 8. And he had to sweat it out just a bit.
“Of course it was kind of scary because I thought it was going to be foul, but it stayed fair so that was pretty good,” said Abreu.
Perhaps it was another sign that fortunes are about to change for Boston.
Contreras started a five-run, game-busting fifth inning by hustling to turn what looked like a single to right-center into a double, complete with a swim move into second base and a slam of celebration by his right hand onto the bag.
The first baseman plays with a relentless emotion, and he is the type of player Fenway fans will fall in love with if the team starts winning more consistently.
“That sparked that inning, no doubt in my mind,” said Tracy. “He was aggressive. When you're winning by three runs, you can afford to take some chances and be very aggressive. When you're losing by one or two, you have to be much more conservative.”
"Conservative" isn’t really in Contreras' vocabulary.
“I went for a double, no matter what happened there,” said Contreras. “I thought I saw that I had a good chance to make it to second base, so I was able to do it, and I'm glad that I was safe there.”
Moments later, there were sounds of delirium when Orioles center fielder Blaze Alexander completely lost a ball in the twilight, and Mickey Gasper scooted to third with a two-run triple.
Each time Payton Tolle blew a pitch by a batter, there was the sound of a packed house confident in its charismatic starting pitcher.
In what has been a frustrating season so far for the home team, the rookie lefty Tolle has been the gift that keeps on giving, lowering his ERA to 2.28 on the strength of six shutout innings and 17 swings and misses.
When he wasn’t landing key pitches, he was making a mock jump (at an infield chopper far too high for him to field), stumbling dramatically to avoid an infielder’s throw hitting him in the noggin, or gesturing playfully with his hands on infield popups.
After Tolle recorded his final out of the night, injured righty reliever Garrett Whitlock locked the 23-year-old into an extended bear hug. Tolle couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
“I think it shows what we’re capable of,” said Tolle. “I think it’s in there. So just kind of [trying to carry] this momentum into the next one and continue to have fun playing the game.”