An Optimist's Guide to the Red Sox

I didn't know what was going to happen last night. Well, I knew Crochet would pitch well. But I also knew that New York wouldn't make it easy. And it was scary to start. Dudes got on base in the bottom of the first. With no outs and everything! So I was right, the Yankees weren't making it easy. But then Crochet got out of it and, aside from the single dinger to Volpe, absolutely dominated. Our bats were a little quiet, yes, but they were loud enough and Max Fried is very, very good. I'm not going to give our lineup shit for flailing a bit in the face of his pitching. So let's look at those bright sides.

Crochet was amazing. He got out of trouble and then just fucking ruled. He threw 117 pitches over seven and two-thirds innings, striking out 11 and not issuing a single walk. He did allow a dinger, but then retired the next 17 batters he faced. His last pitch sealed his 11th strike out and clocked in at 100mph. The looks of frustration on the faces of every pinstriped batter were golden. They were disgusted. With themselves, with the laws of physics. It was beautiful.

Masa Yoshida came off the bench and with a single swing drove in both the tying and the go-ahead run. Some pretty awesome stuff had to happen before that though...

Ceddanne Rafaela had to take a walk. Which he did during an 11 pitch at-bat. Ceddanne is not famous for his patience at the plate. Feel the Sox are embracing the importance of the situation. So, Ceddanne took the walk, and then...

Nick Sogard turned a single into a double because he noticed that Aaron Judge had the sum total of fuck all hustle playing the ball (Judge is injured and can't throw, but it still looks like fuck all hustle). Which meant that Sogard was on second and Ceddanne was on third for Masa's hit. It's fun how that works.

Alex Bregman was 2-for-4 with a RBI double in the ninth that provided both comfort and insurance. He's also battling a dreadful cold. He is meant to be very good in postseason situations. Let's hope that continues to be the case.

Aroldis Chapman got into trouble and then got out of it. With the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth he struck out two and got a pop out. I'll come back to the pop out and Wilyer Abreu's play of that but those strike outs were absolutely amazing. I don't know what the statistical chances are of loading the bases with Yankees and no outs and getting out of it without a run scoring but I'm sure it's very, very low. Gosh.

That pop up in the ninth wasn't a sac fly in part because Abreu was lining up his throw to Narvàez before he caught the ball and Narvi had positioned himself perfectly slightly up the third base line. Little things, but worth watching the replay.

We won!

We just have to win the next one to keep going!

Let's do that!

I am very happy we won the last game of the regular season. It felt good that we kept working. Feel there's a temptation among some teams to simply coast once they get through. The Sox did not look like they were coasting. So whilst we are all thinking excitedly of the series in the Bronx, worrying about what our rotation looks like without Giolito for at LEAST one series, hoping that we knock the fucking Skanks out quickly, and wondering if, with such a wildly up-and-down team, we are on one of the "up" bits at just the right time, we should also take the time to appreciate the bright sides of the final game of what turned out to be our first winning season since 2021.

José De León, called up at so much the last minute he was actually on his way to Puerto Rico for winter ball, managed to throw a great game with absolutely no sleep whatsoever. He went six and two-thirds giving up three runs on eight hits whilst walking three and striking out eight. What a dude. Ta, José.

Masa Yoshida continued his hot streak, putting the Sox on the board with a dinger in the bottom of the first. This is the right time to get hot, Masa. Thank you.

David Hamilton, the day before his birthday, tied the game up after the Sox had fallen behind in the fourth, with a dinger to right centre. Which was groovy.

Jarren Duran, for whom it would also be good to find a hot streak, knocked in the go-ahead run after that, scoring Nick Sogard, who got a hit just after Hamilton hit the dinger.

Conor Wong took two walks and thus was on base when Hamilton hit that dinger.

With Cora staying away from Chapman, saving him for the playoffs, the bullpen had their work cut out and nailed it, allowing only twi base runners over 2 and a third. Those two base runners were in the ninth so it was scary, but we got through it.

We won!

We're going to the playoffs!

What were your expectations? I was concerned. Not that we'd lose, but that we'd look like we weren't bothered. That because we clinched there'd be a bit of napping. I shouldn't have been worried about those things because, and I am totally fucking serious about this, Alex Cora is a good fucking manager who teaches his team to play right. But also, they'd clinched and are knackered. If they'd just slipped and let the Tigers kick the shit out of them it would have kind of sucked. But they played. But the Tigers played too and they had to clinch themselves, after a disastrous, possibly career-defining, stretch of dreadful, shitty losses, they were fighting for a lot more than we were. I have no ill will about tonight. Yes, I wish we won. I wish we'd win them all. I think I write a sentence similar to that after our first loss of every single season I've done this stupid fucking thing. But if we're not going to win, I'd like it to be one of those games that, hey, you can't win them all, is acceptable. And today was one of those games. And, obvs, there are still bright sides.

You know we're playing October ball, right?

Connelly Early pitched great. As did Peyton Tolle. But Chris Murphy fucking nailed it. Holy shit. Be warned, postseason baseball. Our bats look like they're sorting their shit out. And if they do, you're fucking doomed. Because our 'pen are lights out and our starting rotation has a Garrett fucking Crochet in it.

That last paragraph was telling you our pitching is good.

I thought it was kind of cool that the Tigers could celebrate at Fenway as they were on the razor edge as well. Is that particularly magnanimous of me? I dunno. I've appreciated them as an opponent in the past. Them clinching, albeit after us, is sort of nice in that in my mind it shows us as gracious hosts in a way.

Especially as they barely beat us even though I have absolutely no doubt a fucking load of the team were hungover today.

As well they should have been.

Because we're going to the fucking playoffs!!!

In the heady rush of everything that happened last night, One of the things that made me happiest was Dice K throwing out the first pitch to 'Tek. I was a Dice K believer and apologist. I remember going for a run around Arthur's Seat during the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 and seeing someone in a Matsuzaka t-shirt and nearly stopping my run and demanding a high five. I didn't. But I do remember seeing it all this time later. Dice K was never boring. And I really wanted him to be kind of like what Shohei Ohtani is now, except a better pitcher. I wanted the gyroball to be real. It was a happy time. We signed him and won a World Series. There was good reason to think we might be at the start of a new dynasty. And, in spite of the later frustrations, Dice K reminds me of a very happy time in my Red Sox fandom, and it was nice to see him back. So I just wanted to say that before I started talking about the game.

The game, aside from the ceremonial first pitch, did not get off to a good start. I was worried. Possibly a touch pessimistic. I thought we looked a little uncertain on the field and at the plate. Harrison lived too close to the edge and Duran saved him once but couldn't do it all night. You can't have the bases loaded all the time. And you can't not get on base all the time with regards to your at-bats. Thankfully, and I am going to credit super all-star Fenway organist Josh Kantor, at least in part, for inspiring the rally. He put a sign up, when the Sox were trailing 3-1 in the seventh, that said "Let's Rally". Which, is kind of what I was hoping they would do. And they did. So let's look at those bright sides.

Chippin'. We chipped. This team is inconsistent but in that inconsistency they've also been surprising and delightful. We don't know who's going to hit when they need to. Sometimes they don't. But sometimes they do. This Red Sox season is like baseball in a microcosm. And last night seemed like the Red Sox season in a microcosm. No, we didn't have a huge inning. We've had a bunch this season. We might've expected it last night. A bunch of us wished we would. But no. We chipped. Chipping can be good too. When you chip enough.

Masa Yoshida, in no way influenced by either Japan night or by my ever-optimistic hopes that he will become the hitting machine I know he has in him, went 3-for-4 with a run scored and the first Sox RBI. He hit fucking well last night. And has been doing so for a week or two. This is a good time for him to be locking in because we hope there's a lot more to come.

He knocked in Alex Bregman, who'd hit a double for his only hit and run scored of the game. He's struggling but he made them count, which is good because you can tell he's still not running great.

The bullpen threw fucking zeroes again. Six pitchers, one walk, three hits, six strikeouts and NO FUCKING RUNS. Bravo, dudes.

Nathaniel Lowe knocked a run in. Sac fly in the seventh, giving us hope. Given the opportunity, he'll be one of those dudes. Post-season-makes-the-play-type-dudes. One of those transient series MVPs who goes elsewhere and then, later, manages World Series winning teams. You never know.

Jarren Duran, who's been not so great at the plate, knocked in the tying fucking run that meant we could win.

Narvàez got the hit in the eighth that led to Eaton pinch running that led to Duran knocking him in.

Eaton ran well in the eighth.

Ceddanne Rafaela, who manages to struggle at the plate and also come up big when everything is on the line and also patrol centre field like some sort of light speed ninja went 2-for-4 with a RBI. THAT FUCKING RBI WAS A FUCKING TRIPLE THAT KNOCKED IN THE WALK OFF RUN THAT SENT THE 2025 BOSTON RED SOX TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!

So that was nice.

We won!

We're back in October

This team can beat ANYONE. They can also lose to anyone. THAT MAKES IT EXCITING.

One bad inning. One errant throw. That errant throw coming from a player who has been absolutely amazing (for the most part) since the beginning of June (Trevor Story). When the wheels come off, they certainly come off, I guess. And so, if we are indeed to make the playoffs, we're going to have to do it in Boston. We won the series, and convincingly so. It just would have been nice to seal the deal as well. Perhaps I'm just a bit nervous. The Tigers have had a rough couple of weeks and I don't think they're just going to roll over at Fenway. Not that I want them to. But I definitely have a bit of unease about the next three games. It's not a sure thing. I'm crossing fingers and toes until we're through. Right. Let's look at the bright sides.

Whilst Bello is far from his peak, he was solid for the first five innings. Shame about the sixth. But I'd rather see him trending to the better with the postseason looming than worse.

Jarren Duran, who's looked a little lost at the plate, hit a double in the seventh and then scored the only Sox run.

Trevor Story knocked that run in, making up somewhat for his throwing error the inning before.

We have three games left to win. So please let's win them.

It doesn't feel quite fair that whilst we're beating Toronto in Toronto the Skanks are hosting The Little Sisters Of The Poor in the Bronx. But whatever. It's good to play good baseball and win important ballgames. The Blue Jays are looking a little lost and the once mighty Max Scherzer looked like he was still warming up when the game started and the Sox scored three runs on him before he managed to get out of the first. And it wasn't just the bats, which looked pretty good (with, perhaps the exception of Jarren Duran and Nathaniel Lowe, but it didn't actually matter in the end), but some very heads up play on the field. So yeah! Awesome! Magic number is one! Let's look at those bright sides.

Garrett Crochet looked for a lot of the game like he might go the full nine. His strike outs were a bit low (for him) but it didn't matter in the slightest. He allowed no runs on three hits without any walks and threw 100 pitches through 8 innings. And the team behind him had his back. There was at least one remarkable double play and some snazzy hands behind him. Let's just forget about Ceddanne dropping that fly he was diving for because he still has more runs prevented than any other center fielder in baseball and it isn't even close.

Masa Yoshida had a day, going 2-for-5, hitting a dinger, scoring twice and knocking in two runs. That was his fourth multi-hit game in a row. I really want him to do well.

Trevor Story was 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Romy Gonzalez and Ceddanne Rafaeala both had two hits and scored a run whilst Romy knocked in two and played some stellar second base.

Wilyer Abreu had a hit and managed to get the last out by successfully throwing out the runner at first on a line drive to right field and no, I have never seen that before, either. Kirk, the Jays' catcher, is not a fast runner, it would appear.

Narvi hit a three-run dinger in the eighth to make it absolutely clear that the Red Sox had no intention of blowing that game.

We batted .300ish with runners in scoring position.

We won!

It was a good win!

The baseball gods looked kindly on the Red Sox last night. The Blue Jays had some legitimate beef with the umpires, who had two extraordinarily bad calls that went Boston's way, neither of which were reviewable. The thing is, we managed to take advantage of that. I don't think anyone was happier about those shitty calls than Giolito, who struggled a bit through four and two-thirds innings but seemed to constantly be able to get out of trouble. I mean, he got into trouble too, but the getting out of it was much more fun. And we won. Irksomely, the Skanks won as well, but I'm going to focus on the happiness of us winning for the time being and look at the bright sides.

Nathaniel Lowe (sorry for calling you Nate all those times before) seems to have shrugged off the Red Sox struggles getting a hit with runners in scoring position. He was 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs, a run scored, and got on base every time he stepped to the plate. He put the Sox on the board in the second, knocking in Yoshida and he put the Sox back in the lead in the sixth. Thanks, Nathaniel.

The bullpen locked that shit down. Between Wilson, Whitlock, Slaten and Chapman they allowed one walk and no hits over four and a third innings.

Narvàez came through huge, knocking in two runs in the 6th. Important to note that it was with two outs. Two out RBIs are good.

Masa Yoshida, who I am always rooting for, went 2-for-4 and scored a run. I feel he's a better hitter than we've seen. I would like him to show that off during this final stretch, especially as Duran and Bregman seem to still be struggling.

We won!

Let's win again!

Apologies, dear readers, apologies... the problem with writing a daily Red Sox recap is that it gets harder and harder to jump back on if you slip and miss a few games. This time of year I am usually working the grape harvest in France, which is both exhausting and time consuming. Aside from checking scores and watching highlights I didn't really manage to keep things up here. As you might have noticed, what with the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. It's about as nail-biting an end to the season as you can get. We could make the playoffs. We could miss the playoffs. We definitely miss Roman Anthony. But taking two-of-three from the Rays was good. And the rollercoaster that has been the Blue Jays' last month or so leaves me... well... optimistic. But in very much a crossing fingers kind of way. Maybe crossing a few toes as well. So let's look at the games I missed in the meantime and hope for the best.

9 Sep, BOS @ ATH, 6-0, win Bright sides: we won and shut them out.

10 Sep, BOS @ ATH, 4-5, loss Bright sides: it was close and we got Chapman finally giving up a run in a non-vital, non-playoff situation so he can go another 30 or so games with allowing anything.

12 Sep, NYY @ BOS, 4-1, loss Bright sides: we won the season series, we didn't get no-hit.

13 Sep, NYY @ BOS, 5-3, loss Bright sides: we won the season series.

14 Sep, NYY @ BOS, 4-6, win Bright sides: we didn't get swept. The bats might be waking up?

16 Sep, ATH @ BOS, 2-1, loss Bright sides: struggling with this one, we really should be beat the A's.

17 Sep, ATH @ BOS, 4-5, win Bright sides: we beat the A's. It shouldn't have been so close.

18 Sep, ATH @ BOS, 5-3, loss Bright sides: we don't have to play the A's again this year.

19 Sep, BOS @ TB, 11-7, win Bright sides: we won, it's fun to beat Tampa Bay, we really needed to win that!

20 Sep, BOS @ TB, 6-3, win Bright sides: we won again! And thus won the series. Everyone else winning makes it even more important that we win.

21 Sep, BOS @ TB, 3-7, loss Bright sides: at least we won the series. Now we just need to get hits when the bases are loaded.

Well, that's nice. I'm not going to say anything bad about the A's being bad. They're not as bad as the Rockies. It's just nice to see Crochet dominate and the Sox win without much stress or issue. We scored in the first and kind of kept scoring whilst keeping the other team from scoring. That's what baseball is about. And it's important to beat teams that you're better than. So let's look at the bright sides.

Garrett Crochet was dominant. He allowed three hits over seven innings and struck out 10. As you can see from the score, he also did not allow any runs.

The top three in the lineup accounted for four runs, three RBIs and six hits. Which is good. It's also good to see Bregman with a multi-hit game. I reckon his leg still hurts.

Masa Yoshida had a couple of hits, knocked in a run and scored a run.

Trevor Story hit a dinger.

Narvàez hit a dinger.

Kelly & Murphy were good in relief.

Nick Sogard knocked in a run against his old team.

We won!

That's better. It's also nice to see, once again, that other teams allow unearned runs as well. I feel we were going through one of those ruts, kind of understandable in the wake of the Roman Anthony injury. And we got out of it kind of the way you get out of ruts. Not with a bang, but by just keeping on keeping on, and scoring three runs in the top of the ninth when Chapman is throwing the way he does. Anyway, it was nice to get the win and there were quite a few bright sides.

Trevor Story seemed back to his post June self again, going 2-for-3 with a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. He also plays good shortstop.

Chapman needed four strikeouts in the ninth because of a steal of first but he got four strikeouts in the ninth, which is badass.

Nick Sogard came in to pinch hit and knocked in two runs and scored one, which is cool That was in the three-run ninth.

Narvàez pinch hit and knocked in a run as well.

Romy pinch hit and scored a run.

Whitlock was strong for five outs, getting the W in the 7th and 8th.

We won! In kind of a weird way.

Well, aside from possibly one of the greatest catches of all time, that game sucked. We didn't play very good baseball at all. And that's basically the main point of a baseball team. To play good baseball. Hopefully, very good baseball. I don't think we played that great this whole series, to be honest. Anyway, bright sides.

Ceddanne Rafaela had one of the greatest home run stealing catches I've ever seen, yanking it from over the fence in the bottom of the fifth to totally deny Corbin Carroll his 31st home run of the season. It was great and Ceddanne kind of paused before roaring triumphantly and hurling the ball back to the infield. He's struggling at the plate but by gosh is he something to watch in the field.

Jarren Duran had a couple of hits.

That really was a great catch.

Wilson struck out three in the sixth.

I think last night made it a bit more irksome that the bullpen blew Tolle's first start. I know the present shouldn't impact the past. But it does. And it did last night. Last night, Tolle deserved to lose. He wasn't great because he's basically still a school kid and school kids, even genius school kids, have bad days. But he had a good day and they didn't do anything with it. He had a bad day last night. Just like a couple of nights before the bullpen had their bad night. So we drop two in a row and it's shitty and sucks but at least, because the Skanks are playing the Jays, whoever loses, we don't lose as much, even when we lose. Or win. Baseball is funny that way. Anyway, let's look at the bright sides.

This is going to sound weird, but I'm kinda glad it was E-Rod that beat us. Look back on my posts from when he was a young homegrown Sox prospect. Always wanted him to do well. He was a good kid. I wish he was with a better team. But he's with the Diamondbacks. And he beat us. Better him than some other asshole.

We had a good inning. We scored 4 runs in the 8th, getting within a run. Also, in the second, Nathaniel Lowe (apparently he's not a Nate? obviously not a Ted Lasso fan... or too much of a Ted Lasso fan?) hit a run-scoring triple! Triples are awesome. Is he our Steve Pearce? I hope so - go do some good work, Nathaniel (I won't call you Nate anymore, I promise).

It looks like Alex Bregman may well be waking from his slumber. He was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and was a huge part of that eighth. With young master Anthony out of the game, he needs to get his shit back together.

Romy did Romy stuff, going 2-for-3 with a run and a RBI.

If it weren't for their shitty 4-run eighth ruining our beautiful 4-run eighth everything could've been awesome.

We'll get them tomorrow.

Ugh. Well. That was one of those "every once in a while they kick the shit out of you" nights. We got lucky the last time we won a bullpen game, we did not get lucky this time round. They just battered us. We also had two errors and couldn't get runners in. One of those nights, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So let's look at the bright sides.

We never have to play that game again. Nobody can force you to watch a replay of it.

Zack Kelly was amazing for four innings in relief. We were already kind of battered, but had we been able to hit, he would have kept the ship steady. Shame we didn't hit.

Nick Sogard, up from Pawtucket, knocked in a run.

Romy went 2-for-4.

We have a day off.

Everyone has the odd bad day, or night, once in awhile. Sometimes it's not even the whole night. Sometimes it's just a blip. A fifteen or twenty minute span where everything goes wrong. Or maybe 45 minutes. For Garrett Crochet last night it was about 45 minutes, a top of the sixth inning where Cleveland scored 6 runs, taking the lead and making everyone wonder when it was going to end. This was after Roman Anthony's bad day in the bottom of the fifth, where his last two swings of an at-bat had him out of the game looking concerned with a strained oblique. And whilst the worst start of Garrett Crochet's career (thus far) is certainly cause for a modicum of concern (though I'm a big believer in the "it's just a bad day" theory), it's the injury to Roman Anthony that gives me the slightly sinking feeling that this team's continued improvement might have hit a real stumbling block. With all this slightly sour navel-gazing, you might think that the Red Sox had lost last night's game. They did not. They won! So let's put all these terrifying questions about the future aside and focus on the bright side.

Garret Crochet managed to finish the sixth. It's not a lot but it's something.

We had 18 hits last night. That's a lot of hits.

Ceddanne Rafaela, possibly filling the gap left by Roman Anthony, returned to his earlier season form in terms of coming through at the plate when the Red Sox needed him most, hitting a two-run dinger in the bottom of the sixth after the Garrett Crochet meltdown, bringing the Sox back even with The Guardians. He had a day, going 2-for-4, with three runs scored and 4 RBIs. He played good D as well.

Masa Yoshida was 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored.

Nate Lowe hit a dinger!

Trevor Story knocked in a couple of runs and had a couple of hits and stole a base.

Alex Bregman managed to run as fast as he could to beat out an infield single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to keep the Sox alive for Story to knock in those runs.

Duran also knocked in some of those runs.

That bottom of the eighth rally allowed Cora to give Chapman a night off.

Hopefully Roman Anthony is ok.

Like, really.

Same with Crochet.

We won!

That was a tough watch to start with. The top of the second seemed a war of attrition Brayan Bello had to fight all on his own. Poor dude. He wouldn't have handled it a year ago. This year, alone in the majors, Bello just gets better as the game goes on, becoming more efficient and effective. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. That was a weird game. Roman Anthony scored on a balk, Trevor Story hit a Pesky Pole dinger that was nearly caught for an out or foul but turned out to be neither on review. Any time someone hits that pole it is awesome. That's just a rule. Anyway, let's look at those bright sides.

Bello managed five innings and got the win. It didn't look like that would happen after giving up three runs in the second immediately after the Sox scored two in the first. In fact, it didn't look like he'd get through the second. It was bases loaded and no outs with three runs in before he settled in. But he did, going five, giving up three runs on 6 hits, striking out 4 and walking three. And he got the win. He threw more pitches in the first two innings than the last three. By a lot.

Trevor Story keeps amazing stuff happening. He was three-for-four with 2 RBIs and that crazy Pesky dinger. It's amazing to watch. He's going to get to 100 RBIs this season, I'm sure of it. He's at 86 thus far.

Narvàez came in to pinch hit for the first time ever and knocked in two runs on a bullet up the right field line.

Romy and Ref continued their double act, each with a couple of hits, Romy with a RBI and Ref with a run scored.

Roman Anthony was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Connor Wong had a hit and scored a run. He also took two walks. Good eye, Connor.

Chapman finished the ninth on five pitches.

We won!

You know how you wash the taste of two shitty losses (at home!) out of your mouth? You hit a standing-up-inside-the-park-three-run-dinger. I've watched the replay of that a thousand times and it's nowhere near enough. My misgivings about Duran's past outbursts aside that was amazing to watch. And yes, I'm just leaping into a bright side right at the start because, holy shit, did you see that?!?!? Coming in a game that always felt on the edge, in part due to the Pirates scoring first and in part due to Giolito uncharacteristically walking 5 batters (and yet somehow only giving up the one run), that moment in the fifth was totally electric. So let's look at the bright sides, including that one (again).

Giolito diced with danger, light on the hits (only three) but heavy on walks (5), he gave up one run and struck out 6. Not at his best but kept the team in the game.

Did I mention that Jarren Duran hit a standing-up-inside-the-park-three-run-dinger? I did? Well, it was amazing. If I were him, I would have picked my bat back up from the batboy and just flip it after the fact (I would not do that but there's a kind of douche-y part of me that thinks it would be cool anyway). He was two-for-three with three RBIs and a run scored.

Nate Lowe had a couple of hits and scored a run.

Ceddanne knocked in a run on an infield single. It would be good if he got hot again.

Chapman got the save and signed a contract extension. I have my issues with him as well but I struggle to not be totally fucking in awe of his performance this season.

We won!

We didn't get swept!

That looked like the shaky, uncertain team from the first couple of months in the season came back for a bit of a reunion tour. Ugh. Two errors and getting the living shit kicked out of us in our own home. Dustin May is not looking like the catch of the trade deadline. Nope. Not. One. Bit. Giving up seven runs ("but only six earned!", I hear the Dustin May fan club shout) over five and a third isn't great. In fact, that whole game fucking sucked and we need a word with ourselves. The bright sides are few and far between but consist of the following:

Trevor Story continued to hammer the shit out of the ball, going 2-for-3 and scoring 66% of Boston's runs.

Romy Gonzalez went 2-for-4 and knocked in 66% of Boston's runs.

Narvàez hit a dinger.