First, there was Chad Tracy.
“It was a good one, for sure. I'm not sure about the best, but it was really good and needed, too,” said the Red Sox manager.
Then came Jarren Duran.
“It’s baseball. It loves you and hates you at the same time,” explained the Red Sox outfielder. “We’re going to try and soak it up as much as we can when it loves us and just pray when it doesn’t like us. Things are just falling our way, and it’s just nice to see.”
All words, reflections, and sentiments the Red Sox haven’t been able to bask in since leaving Kansas City a week ago.
They beat the best team in baseball, the Braves, 8-0, at Fenway Park, no less.
The Sox finished with their second-most hits in a game, with all nine starters recording at least one hit for just the second time this season.
There was the six-run fourth inning, managed without a single extra-base hit. (It was a feat that hadn’t been accomplished by the home team at Fenway since 2011.)
The Sox have seemingly found their top of the order, with Jarren Duran managing four hits, including a solo homer, to raise his OPS over the last 10 games to 1.911, and Ceddanne Rafaela chipping in with three hits. The centerfielder now has an OPS of .908 in the last 25 games.
And then there was Connelly Early.
The rookie once again looked like anything but, throwing seven shutout innings vs. perhaps the best lineup in baseball. He now owns a 1.78 ERA in his last four starts.
"After what he did last year for us in the playoffs, I feel like he had to grow up pretty quick," said Duran of Early. "Some of us forget he’s a rookie and he’s doing the things that he’s doing. Every day he comes on the mound, it’s nice to be out there in the outfield and just kind of chill when he’s doing his thing. Sometimes you get lost watching him carve up there. I’m not surprised. I don’t think anybody in the clubhouse is surprised. He’s an absolute dog. He goes out there every single day and competes."
All of it led to an atmosphere that seemed almost like an abberation considering the Red Sox's struggles at home thus far. It was loud. People stayed. And there was the presentation of a team that offered the image of a group that contends.
Now, the Red Sox have to figure out if that was just a passing fancy or if Duran was truly prescient Tuesday night when he suggested these incoming good times were "going to be sick."
They are still eight games under .500. They remain three games out of the Wild Card spot, with five teams in front of them. And their odds of making the postseason (according to Fangraphs) stand at 26.6 percent. But, look at it this way: On this date a year ago, they were at just 22 percent, and they still found themselves playing in October.
Nights like Wednesday offer a glimpse that all hope isn't lost quite yet.
"I think it's awesome. Awesome to see, things turning our way," Rafaela said. "And hopefully it keeps going like that. And like I said, we're going to be in a really good spot in September."
