BOSTON -- The grounder by Tzu-Wei Lin was headed right into 4-6-3 double-play territory and the third inning was about to end with the Red Sox still down by four runs on Monday night at Fenway Park.

But when A’s second baseman Jurickson Profar threw the ball into the ground instead of shortstop Marcus Semien's glove from a close distance, opportunity struck for the defending World Series champions, and they kicked the door in on Oakland like they did to so many of their opponents last season.

What ensued was a six-run inning by the Red Sox, aided by a few more mistakes by the A’s, ultimately ending in a much-needed 9-4 victory for Boston.

“Hey, like I said the other day, just a little break our way,” said shortstop Xander Bogaerts. “It worked out tonight. We can’t be hoping for many breaks but tonight was a good one.”

If you hadn’t heard, things had become a little stressful around Fenway. So maybe that zany bottom of the third inning will wind up as the one that helps the 12-17 Red Sox get their groove back.

Boston’s return to championship form has to start somewhere if it’s going to happen, right?

“Obviously we know we have a lot of really good players in the clubhouse, and a win like tonight and a big inning like that can change a lot of stuff,” said Bogaerts. “Come in here tomorrow with the same attitude and try to do it again.”

After Profar’s miscue, pitcher Frankie Montas missed the bag while covering a routine grounder to first by Andrew Benintendi.

Before the game, manager Alex Cora talked about how his players needed to stop trying to be heroes and just hit line drives. On cue, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez laced back-to-back RBI singles following Montas’ error.

“Just have to do what we did,” said Betts. “Build an inning some way, somehow.”

Then came another line drive by Bogaerts, this one a two-run double, which A's center fielder Ramón Laureano misread off the bat. It was Laureano who tormented Bogaerts and the Red Sox multiple times in their early-season series at Oakland, when the A’s won three out of four.

“We did a good job staying to the big part of the field and we weren’t greedy,” said Cora. “Early in the game, we took advantage of a mistake by them. Profar makes the error and then after that, it opened the gates. But we made sure [Montas] got the fastball up and we started going up the middle and the other way, so that was a good sign.”

Michael Chavis, Boston’s No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, who doesn’t seem interested in returning to the Minor Leagues, closed the scoring in the game-breaking inning with a two-run single.

“It was unbelievable,” Chavis said of the rally. “We had a conversation earlier about how the vibe in the dugout is kind of contagious. Everybody knows hitting is contagious in general, but we had a conversation and we said this team is capable of putting up five runs, no problem, at any time. You look through our lineup and we definitely are. And it was kind of cool after having that conversation to come out and put up six, so it was very fun to be part of.”

Speaking of fun, the Red Sox had some in the fifth when the powerful Chavis blooped an RBI single into short right field that had an exit velocity of 62 mph and an expected batting average of .230.

"You know how many times you catch barrel and get called out, so you’ll take those any day,” said Chavis.

After losing two straight to the Rays over the weekend, it was discomforting for the Fenway faithful to watch the A’s tag Eduardo Rodriguez for four runs in the top of the second to pin the Sox in a quick 4-0 hole.

This time, with some help from the opponent, Boston stormed back.

As for whether it will have a carryover effect, Cora sounded like he was tired of making those kind of predictions.

“It’s just one game,” said Cora. “You know, I’m not going to get caught up in it and say, ‘We’re getting better or we will be better.’ It’s just one day. We played good today.”