Red Sox 10, Rangers 1

 

Oh yeah, baby! The Sox are back! Back in Fenway, and back to playing some winning baseball!

Last night, the first four batters in the Boston order went a collective 10-for-17 at bat. Rafaela hit a two-run homer and an RBI double, Abreu homered and hit an RBI double and a sac fly for a run, and Contreras homered and hit an RBI single and an RBI double. Durbin, sixth in the line up, chipped in a sac fly for an RBI. Sonny Gray gave up a run in the first before he settled down and struck out seven over six innings, and the bullpen gave up only one hit over the final three innings.

Yes, sir. This is the hard-hitting Boston team I've been waiting for. Let's keep this going!

To make things even sweeter, both the Rays and the Yankees lost last night, so Boston (38-29) picks up a game in the AL East standings. We've still got a better record than the Royals or the Angels, and were only 12½ back with 95 games left to go!

This afternoon (4:10), Ranger Suarez (2-3, 3.18) will get the start against the Rangers' Jacob deGrom (5-4, 3.18) in some hot, Ranger-on-Ranger action. Lefty against righty and two veteran pitchers with identical ERAs. Suarez hasn't pitched against the Rangers since 2024, when he was with the Phillies, and threw 10 strikeouts over seven innings in a 5-2 Philly win. deGrom is 0-2 against the Red Sox in five starts over his long (12½ years) career, but he shut out the Sox over five innings in his last start against Boston (March 30, 2025), striking out six. 

The Sox have been abysmal in Fenway so far this season (11-21). It's time the celebrated park turns things around for us and starts giving up some wins for the home team.