The Red Sox have their swagger back.
If it wasn’t already clear after they started turning their season around in mid-May, the Red Sox showed they’re back with a huge road trip on the West Coast. They’ll return to Boston flying high after finishing the 10-game trip in style on Sunday with a 2-0 win over the Mariners that included an unlikely hero in Kutter Crawford and late heroics from Rafael Devers.
The Red Sox, who were three games below .500 when they began this trip, are now three games above .500 after winning all three series on a historic 8-2 trip, the first time they’ve won eight or more games on a West Coast trip since August 1995.
The takeaways:
1. Rafael Devers made the Mariners pay
Memo to the Mariners, and any team, for that matter: Don’t let Rafael Devers get to the plate if you don’t need to.
They learned that the hard way in the eighth inning on Sunday. Stuck in a scoreless tie, Paul Sewald was one strike away from ending the inning after he struck out the first two batters he faced, when he faced Rob Refsnyder, who nearly went around on a check swing. But on the next pitch, he hit the Red Sox outfielder on his right arm. That brought one of the hottest hitters in the game to the plate.
And Devers delivered in only a way the blossoming superstar can. Facing an 0-2 count, Sewald threw the third baseman – who had to shake off a hit by pitch on his elbow early in the game – a fastball well off the plate that had no business being swung at. It didn’t matter. Devers extended his swing and sent it with ease over the left-field wall for his 14th home run of the season, a tie-breaking – and ultimately game-winning – two-run blast.
2. Kutter Crawford made the most – and then some – of his chance
Cora couldn’t have asked for anything more from Crawford.
On paper, the pitching matchup between Robbie Ray – the former Cy Young Award winner – and Crawford, the 26-year-old who has 12 2/3 innings of career big-league experience and making his second career start, was lopsided. But Crawford was up to the task, and gave every chance for the Red Sox to win with five shutout innings and just one hit allowed.
Crawford’s command wasn’t the sharpest – 43 of his 83 pitches were strikes, which led to four walks. But he showed poise in getting out of every jam he faced. In the third, he walked the leadoff batter Taylor Trammell, who proceeded to steal second, but responded to retire Luis Torrens on a lineout and Jesse Winker with a strikeout. Then, after walking Ty France, he struck out Julio Rodriguez on three pitches to end the inning.
The most significant obstacle for Crawford came in the fifth, when he allowed a two-out single to Torrens for the Mariners’ first hit of the day before he issued a walk to Winker. But after falling behind France with a 3-1 count, he battled back to strike him out swinging on a cutter. Crawford screamed into his glove after coming through in the big moment to cap off his big day.
With Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock both on the injured list until at least June 24, Crawford certainly made a case that he’s deserving of another chance or two.
