BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi is having a spectacular season. The former Red Sox right-hander has emerged as a Cy Young contender since joining the Texas Rangers, and while he wasn’t at his best Thursday night, he still walked off the mound with a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning, earning a polite applause from the Fenway Faithful as he exited.
Then, with their former teammate out of the picture, the Red Sox offense feasted.
Boston scored seven straight runs from the sixth inning onward and delivered the knockout blow in the form of a six-run avalanche in the bottom of the seventh. Kiké Hernández came through with the go-ahead two-run single and from there Boston kept pouring it on in what wound up a decisive 10-6 win.
The comeback began after Boston cut the deficit to 5-4 in the sixth on an RBI single by pinch hitter Rob Refsnyder to score Hernández, who reached on a fielder’s choice and an error on Eovaldi’s last at bat. Then in the seventh Boston loaded the bases with one out on a Rafael Devers walk, Adam Duvall double and Triston Casas walk, setting the stage for Hernández’s big hit.
And from there the hits just kept coming.
Christian Arroyo and Connor Wong delivered back-to-back singles to extend the lead to 8-5, and after Alex Verdugo grounded into a fielder’s choice, Justin Turner and Masataka Yoshida added back-to-back RBI singles of their own. By the time it was over Boston had sent 12 men to the plate and recorded seven hits in the inning, which didn’t end until Duvall struck out with the bases loaded his second time up.
The offensive explosion flipped what was shaping up to be another middling night for the Red Sox.
Facing his former team for the first time since leaving Boston this past offseason, Eovaldi had trouble finding the plate from the opening pitch and ultimately allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings, walking four batters while throwing just 54 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
Devers tormented his former teammate with an RBI groundout in the first and then an opposite-field RBI double in the third. Duvall tacked on a sacrifice fly right afterwards to make it 3-1, but the Red Sox weren’t sharp either and nearly gave the game away.
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford didn’t have his best stuff and allowed three runs over four innings, including an RBI single to Jonah Heim in the second and later two runs in the fourth on a Robbie Grossman sacrifice fly and Leody Taveras RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.
Texas then took a 5-3 lead in the fifth thanks to a pair of defensive miscues, the first on a throwing error by Yoshida that Hernández couldn’t corral at second and the next on a catchable fly ball by Heim that Duvall and Verdugo let fall in as a result of an apparent miscommunication.
It could have been a lot worse, but to Crawford’s credit he was able to work around some early traffic to keep the Rangers from delivering an early haymaker. He escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second and struck out All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien to end the fourth, and in the seventh Josh Winckowski came on with two on and no out and held the high-powered Rangers offense at bay.
By the time Texas came to bat again they were trailing by five, and outside of a solo homer by Corey Seager in the ninth the Rangers never threatened again.
Boston has now won five of its last six and picked up series wins against two of the American League’s top teams, and Thursday also marked the club’s fifth consecutive game with 10 or more hits, their longest such streak of the season.
Now standing at 45-43 and clear of one of the season’s most difficult stretches, the Red Sox now have a golden opportunity to make a move.
Over the next two and a half weeks the Red Sox will play 12 consecutive games against clubs with losing records, including six against the Oakland Athletics, on pace to be among the worst clubs in recent MLB history. Reinforcements are also on the horizon, with infielders Yu Chang and Pablo Reyes plus relievers Joely Rodriguez, Richard Bleier and John Schreiber all nearing a return.
Should the Red Sox capitalize on this stretch, they could look up in a couple of weeks and find themselves right back in the thick of the wild-card hunt with only a week or so to go before the trade deadline. With Trevor Story and Chris Sale eyeing August returns the Red Sox would be well positioned to buy in that scenario, but if they squander this stretch like they have other soft spots on their schedule, it could be harder to justify that kind of bet.
First order of business will be the Athletics, against whom the Red Sox will wrap up the first half with a three-game series at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have not announced a starter for Friday’s opener, and Oakland is expected to go with Luis Medina (2-7, 6.37 ERA).
