The power surge was coming.
Since the opening at-bat of the season, when Tampa's Kevin Kiermaier robbed Mookie Betts of three bases with a leaping catch in the deepest recess of Tropicana Field, the Red Sox had struggled to score runs despite solid contact.
Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Betts -- each had hit the ball hard with relatively little to show for their efforts. That changed in a major way on Saturday, as the Red Sox teed off on the woebegone Rays, mashing three home runs in a 10-3 pounding that ran their record to 7-1.
The home runs flew to every part of the park. The scorching-hot Xander Bogaerts hit one over everything left. J.D. Martinez later followed suit for his in a Red Sox uniform. Devers ripped one into the bullpen. Betts nearly added a bomb of his own, but settled for a double when his line drive to left struck the top of the Monster.
The team's most potent offensive explosion made a winner of Rick Porcello, who became the first Red Sox starter to allow more than one run in a start with 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball.
Porcello allowed two runs during a rocky first before settling down, helped no doubt by the four-spot the Red Sox posted in the bottom of the inning.
The first three batters of the inning reached before Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to the right field fence. Bogaerts then ripped a two-run double to left before scoring on a Devers single.
The onslaught continued in the second when Bogaerts crushed a grand slam in the direction of the Pike. All 10 RBIs came from the 4-5-6 spots in the order, with Martinez, Bogaerts and Devers combining to go 5-for-8 with five runs.
Bogaerts' sixth perfectly barreled ball of the season matched his total from the entire 2017 season, per Statcast data.
