BOSTON — Instant reactions as the
Red Sox (51-45)
lose their starter to injury in the second inning — but come back and win their eighth-straight game, 5-4, on a Ceddanne Rafaela walk-off homer that cleared everything at Fenway:
1)
Rafaela simply can’t be stopped. With one out in the ninth inning and facing lights-out closer Pete Fairbanks, Rafaela took launch, blasting a 103 mph, 406-foot homer that easily cleared the Green Monster.
Rafaela’s first career walk-off homer barely snuck into the seats near Pesky’s Pole last month. This one, though, was a different story. For the second straight night, the Red Sox overcame a late deficit against a very tough Rays pitching staff and emerged with a win. Roman Anthony’s one-out, pinch-hit walk put the tying run on before Rafaela won it.
2)
Hunter Dobbins’ return from the injured list was short-lived
. Two batters into the second inning, Dobbins attempted to cover first on a grounder to Abraham Toro and in beating the speedy Chandler Simpson to the bag, came down hard on his right leg. Dobbins was immediately hobbled with a right knee injury.
The rookie tried to stay in the game as Alex Cora and head athletic trainer Brandon Henry ran out to see him and even threw a warm-up pitch to test things out. But his leg buckled on that attempt and Cora immediately signaled Dobbins was done. The injury didn’t look particularly good but there’s no word on the severity yet.
3)
Cora often points to an August 11 game as a turning point of last season — and similar circumstances unfolded then. Lefty James Paxton left that game with a calf injury in the first inning, leaving the Red Sox to cobble together the rest of the game with a bullpen fire drill. They then found themselves short on arms in an August tailspin that spiraled out of control.
Boston used six relievers Friday, including Brennan Bernardino for a career-long 2 ⅓ innings (35 pitches). They’ll get a fresh arm to replace Dobbins on Saturday but are still going to be light on bullpen availability. Luckily for them, Garrett Crochet is pitching Saturday and the entire group gets a breather after Sunday when the All-Star break comes.
4)
The Red Sox mostly slugged their way to seven straight wins, so their defensive deficiencies didn’t have much of an impact for the last week. The third inning brought an avalanche of sloppiness as the Rays took the lead.
With the bases loaded and two outs in a 1-1 game, Jorge Alcala got José Caballero to ground softly to Toro on the right side. Toro tried to backhand the ball and lost control of it, leading to a run scoring on the error. Two more runs scored on passed balls charged to Carlos Narváez. All three runs against Alcala were unearned.
5)
Alex Bregman didn’t waste much time re-introducing himself to Fenway Park
. With two outs in the seventh, he lifted a wall-ball double that scraped the Green Monster on its way down.
In all, Bregman was 1-for-4. It’s hard to know if Bregman, who missed 43 games with a right quad strain, is at 100% when it comes to running. He seemed to be careful about busting it down the line on two ground ball outs, including a first-inning grounder to third that was bobbled by Junior Caminero.
Rafaela remains a threat to do damage every time he’s up. He did in the second inning, with a game-tying RBI single, and almost did again in the fourth, when he was the victim of bad luck. With one out and Marcelo Mayer at third after his second RBI double in as many games, Rafaela hit a sharp liner right into Taylor Walls’ glove at shortstop. Walls then flipped to Caminero to double off Mayer and end the inning.
A frame that started with a walk, single and double only resulted in two runs as the Sox got it to 4-3.
6)
Mayer, unsurprisingly, looked like a natural at second base, especially in a standout eighth inning.
He made a diving play in shallow right field on a 90 mph grounder of Caballero’s bat
, then one hitter later, charged in with a backhand and threw out the ultra-fast Simpson. An infield that includes Bregman, Trevor Story and Mayer is Boston’s best on the defensive side of things in some time.
Story also had a web gem an inning later when he robbed Yandy Díaz of a hit with a ranging grab and jump throw on a grounder in the left-side hole.
7)
Boston’s performance in one-run games has gotten better, and they’re now 11-19 in such games. They’ve now played two straight one-run games after a stretch of 13 games without one.
8)
It’ll be the 20th and final start of the first half for Crochet (9-4, 2.39 ERA) with first pitch at 4:10 p.m. ET. The Rays will counter with right-hander Shane Baz (8-4, 4.34 ERA).
