BOSTON -- After a mostly quiet -- and frustrating road trip -- the noise was back for the Red Sox on Monday night.
Noisy with the bats, and with plenty of noise emanating from the latest packed house (36,511) at Fenway Park, Boston emerged from a recent 2-7 rut with an 11-1 rout of the Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.
Unlike on the road trip, when runs were at a premium, there was production throughout the lineup with the team back in the home whites. All nine of the starters had at least one RBI. Not only that, but Boston didn’t strike out.
It was the first time since June 25, 1949, against the St. Louis Browns that all nine members of Boston’s starting lineup had at least one RBI while not striking out.
“I didn't even know that,” said interim manager Chad Tracy of his team not striking out. “That's crazy. That's actually good to hear, because I think during the road trip, we had some games where the strikeouts were piling up a little bit, which is unlike us. We're a very ball-in-play oriented team, so that's good.”
Ceddanne Rafaela hammered a trio of doubles. Willson Contreras emerged from a rare slump with his second home run in August. Mickey Gasper hit a Pesky’s Pole special for his first homer with the Red Sox.
Going with a bullpen game ordered up to give rookie starters Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett some extra rest, the plan worked flawlessly, allowing the Sox to have an auspicious start to a six-game homestand against NL West teams (the Giants and Rafael Devers are on the docket this weekend).
Here were some key takeaways.
1. Contreras enlivens after a day off
Contreras, who has battled a series of health issues the last couple of weeks, took a rare day off on Sunday in Pittsburgh and came back with pep in his step. The first baseman walked, belted a rally-starting one-out double and swatted his 25th homer to establish a career high. Fittingly, the long ball by Contreras hit the base of the light tower that had a Jimmy Fund banner on it. The Red Sox are hosting their annual NESN/WEEI Jimmy Fund TV/radio telethon on Monday and Tuesday.
“That feels good. It's good to finally overcome the 24 homers, which was my top. I always was wondering if I had a healthy season, had a full season, what the numbers would look like,” Contreras said. “And thankfully, this year it's been one of the best years of my career.
“Right now, I'm trying to stay healthy, trying to stay on the field. But it's a dream come true. I mean, [setting career highs] means that you're putting up the right work. You have a good work ethic, and the most important thing is that I’m helping the team to win.”
Contreras, Boston’s best hitter for most of the season, had played 11 games in August entering this one, slashing .189/.318/.297 with just one homer and five RBIs. The Red Sox are a different team offensively when Contreras is doing his thing.
2. Adley’s first Fenway hit (for Boston) ends slump
While it wasn’t the most well-struck double of Adley Rutschman’s career -- not even close -- it was one of the best-timed. Perhaps putting extra pressure on himself since joining his new team, Rutschman came into his Fenway debut for the Red Sox 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts in five games since the trade from the Orioles.
When the switch-hitter stepped to the plate in the sixth inning, he was in an 0-for-19 drought. But that ended when Rutschman slapped an opposite-field RBI double hit at an exit velocity of 90.9 mph. Perhaps momentum was created in his previous at-bat, when Rustschman scorched one to the track in right at 102.3 mph that was dropped by Corbin Carroll for an error.
3. The opener finally works
While Brayan Bello has been brilliant in the bulk-inning role pretty much every time the Red Sox have deployed him in that role, he’s often come on with a deficit, because Tracy has had a tough time finding someone to come through as an opener.
Lefty Alec Gamboa, a veteran of 49 Minor League starts, made his first as a Major Leaguer in this one, and he retired all four batters he faced on just 14 pitches, 10 of them for strikes.
That left a clean lane for Bello, who was strong (4 2/3 innings, three hits, one earned run, three strikeouts) again while earning the win.