Red Sox Triple-A manager Chad Tracy's crazy season
When you play 162 games, it's difficult to resist hyperbole. Big wins. Big moments. Any proclamations might seem like the be-all, end-all, but then the next day or week comes around, and they are forgotten.
Jarren Duran's home run Friday night, however, seems a bit more definitive than any previous perceived tent-pole highlights.
It was Duran's go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning that offered the Red Sox something they were desperately trying to regain heading into the regular season's final week ... Hope.
The blast not only gave the Red Sox a lead over the Rays, but seemingly uncorked an offense that was desperately finding a formula to score enough runs to actually win. Proof? After they took that lead in the seventh, the visitors punctuated the steamy night at Steinbrenner Field with seven runs in the eighth inning.
The end result was an 11-7 win over the Rays, and a significant step toward getting a chance to enter into postseason baseball.
The Duran 385-foot blast into the right field stands was just what the doctor ordered. For starters, it was a home run, and one with an actual runner on base, to boot. According to Stat Wizard Nuggetpalooza (Gary Marbry), before Friday night, since Aug. 26, the Red Sox had hit a total of 22 home runs, with 17 of them coming with nobody on.
And then there was the notion that it came against a left-handed pitcher in Garrett Cleavinger, marking just Duran's third homer against a southpaw this season and first since Aug. 4.
The reaction of both the player and his team at this time of semi-desperation said it all.
"Honestly, it felt like a 20-pound weight was off my shoulders. I feel like I've been just trying to do so much," Duran told reporters, including MLB.com. "I went up to Rob [Refsnyder] and I was like, ‘I feel bad, because I don't usually do that.’ But I felt like it was just kind of like a relaxation moment that I was able to put a quality at-bat together and do that for the team."
Duran wasn't alone in supplying potential turning points, either.
Alex Bregman, the player most were looking to when it came to uncovering a catalyst heading into these final few regular-season games, suddenly seemed locked in, launching his second homer of the month to even things up in the third inning. Heading into the series opener, Bregman was carrying a .160 batting average and .471 OPS since Aug. 27.
The third baseman suddenly looked like a different hitter, as did another potentially important piece of the Red Sox's offensive puzzle, Ceddanne Rafaela.
In that same 20-game span, Rafaela wasn't much better than Bregman, serving more of a problem than a solution. The outfielder was hitting .176 with a .512 OPS. But also out of nowhere, he became the player witnessed prior to the All-Star break, going 4-for-5 in the win.
Ultimately, this is how it can - and has to - work for the Red Sox to reclaim their stride. Now we find out if they can start running once again.
"I feel like the mentality here is we don't want to just get into the playoffs. We want to play well in the playoffs and go play for another month,” Bregman told reporters, including MLB.com. "So for us, I feel like getting back to playing our best brand of baseball on a consistent basis is super important. So that's why I feel like the last few days [of struggling] could be good for us. We can learn a lot from it. And I feel like this team is ready to roll."