Red Sox offense dominates Phillies in 'huge' series win with Yankees on horizon

Source: The New York Times
Author: Jen McCaffrey

BOSTON -- It's a week that's been circled on the Boston Red Sox calendar for a while. One that figured to be a behemoth, hosting the two best teams in baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees.

In fact, it might be the toughest stretch of games at home the team has ever had. Per Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the first time in Red Sox history the team has hosted the top teams in both the American League and National League during the same homestand.

Entering the week, the Red Sox had been 8-19 against teams with a record of .500 or better.

That the Red Sox left Fenway Park Thursday night with a 9-3 win over the Philies, having won two of three games while handing one of baseball's best pitchers in Aaron Nola his worst loss of the year, qualified as wholly unexpected. Unless you ask manager Alex Cora.

"We played well, man," Cora said. "We have a good team."

After dropping the opener on Tuesday, the Red Sox rallied for their biggest comeback win of the year on Wednesday and then pummeled Nola and the Phillies on Thursday.

"It was huge," said Jarren Duran, who put up a two-hit night and is hitting .370 with a 1.118 OPS this month. "We showed a lot of heart all series. We got knocked down and then we came back and played two great games. We all know that's baseball but I think we're doing a really good job of keeping it simple right now and we've just got to keep riding the wave and keep staying on track."

The Phillies started the series with a 2.65 rotation ERA, tops in baseball, and sent Zack Wheeler, Cristofer Sánchez and Nola to the mound. Wheeler overpowered the Red Sox but a lineup without Wilyer Abreu and Triston Casas dominated Sánchez and Nola, putting up 17 runs over the final two games of the series. The Red Sox posted 14 hits on Wednesday, eight of which were extra-base hits. The seven doubles they hit were a season-high and their most in almost a year.

The Phillies were coming off a series in London against the New York Mets and were without shortstop Trea Turner, outfielder Brandon Marsh and had just lost catcher J.T. Realmuto earlier in the week. But a decidedly thinner Red Sox lineup was missing its own bats, too.

"I do believe there's a good stretch of baseball coming up," Cora said. "The healthier, the better. We have struggled offensively throughout the season, but getting Masa (Yoshida) back, Wily (Abreu) back (soon), the way (David Hamilton) is swinging the bat, Jarren (Duran) is becoming an elite leadoff guy, (Rafael Devers) is doing his thing."

The Red Sox have hovered around .500 almost all season and after a big win Wednesday night, the familiar script would have been to fall backward with another loss. But that didn't happen.

In the second inning, the Red Sox picked up where they left off on Wednesday with the bottom of the lineup sparking their first rally. Left-handed hitters entered the day hitting just .125 off Nola's curveball, but the Red Sox attacked it hard. Lefty hitters Enmanuel Valdez and Reese McGuire tagged back-to-back doubles off curveballs to score the first run before Dom Smith singled to drive in a second run. Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran added two more doubles, making it 4-0.

Nola had entered the game fourth in the NL in batting average against, but the Red Sox offense, one that's been hot and cold throughout the year, proved unrelenting.

After the Phillies crept back into the game thanks to a three-run double from Kyle Schwarber in the fourth, the Red Sox added insurance against a dangerous Phillies team.

Smith drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fourth and after Rafaela struck out, Duran caught a break on a pitch that was clearly a strike three, but called ball four by home plate umpire Alex MacKay. The Red Sox didn't waste the gift. Hamilton promptly drilled a single to left (on another curveball), scoring Smith, before O'Neill smashed a three-run homer 108.4 mph into the Monster seats.

Nola lasted just 3 2/3 innings. The eight runs allowed tied a career-worst.

"I feel like that's when you get tested as a team is when you get punched in the mouth," Duran said. "To be able to punch back and they hit us pretty good. But we came back right away and we were able to score some runs. I thought that was really important for us to keep it simple and not get too worried and just stay with our plan and I was really happy with how we executed."

Even on a night when Tanner Houck was not his best, he still offered a solid outing. The right-hander worked around traffic the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth. Even at that, it constituted two infield singles and a hit batter, but Schwarber made him pay, drilling the bases-clearing double to pull the Phillies within one. But Houck bounced back with a fly out to end the inning. After the Red Sox put up four runs in the bottom of the fourth, Houck erased the Phillies on six pitches in the fifth. He finished off the sixth with 94 pitches thrown, 68 strikes.

It marked the 12th time this season he's pitched at least six innings, tied for most in the majors. His two other starts have been 5 2/3 innings each.

"In a grinder, a bad outing or whatever you want to call it, where his stuff wasn't as sharp, he goes six against a great offensive team," Cora said. "It's a good feeling. We were talking about it before the game. You show up to the ballpark, 'Is Tanner on the mound?' We've got a pretty good chance to win it."

The next test comes on Friday when the Yankees' arrive for their first matchup of the season against the Red Sox. At 49-22, the Yankees own the best record in the majors.

The Red Sox recognize the challenge, but remain undaunted.

"You saw the potential with us tonight throwing up (nine) runs on a really good pitching staff over there," O'Neill said. "So we're just going to show up tomorrow and try and do the same thing. Keep our routines going and the rest will take care of itself."