Boston Red Sox
“No secret over the last week or so that [we’re] grinding offensively. And we weren’t today.”
Willson Contreras set a new career high with his 25th home run of the season. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
Chad Tracy wasn’t seeking an overarching remedy for his ailing ballclub on Monday night.
For a Red Sox club whose scorching six-week stretch from July to mid-August had cooled off by way of a 2-7 slide, all Boston’s interim manager was looking for was a break across a pressing roster.
Tracy welcomed a timely hit or two for a Boston lineup that sported a miserable .171 batting average (13-for-76) with runners in scoring position during this nine-game skid.
He preached the importance of patience for a slumping Adley Rutschman (.059 average, nine strikeouts in 17 at-bats) and a frustrated Ceddanne Rafaela, whose improved poise at the plate has waned of late.
And on the mound, Tracy was banking on converted bulk receiver Brayan Bello serving as a human life preserver once again for a gassed pitching corps that’s taken on water for weeks.
All Tracy was looking for was a single stroke of good fortune somewhere across the roster in hopes of a bounce-back night.
Ultimately, he received a lot more than that.
Fresh off a frustrating 2-5 road trip against a pair of sub-.500 clubs in the Blue Jays and the Pirates, the Red Sox took advantage of some home cooking by way of an 11-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.
On a scuffling Sox club short on good tidings as of late, Tracy had little time to comb through each individual achievement that his club stacked together at a rowdy Fenway Park.
“I mean, no secret over the last week or so that [we’re] grinding offensively,” he noted. “And we weren’t today. So it was great to see — up and down the lineup — contributions everywhere. Hard-hit balls. Really, really good offensive output by the entire group.”
The stats speak for themselves following Boston’s blowout win.
In total, all nine players in Boston’s starting lineup recorded at least one RBI, marking just the fourth time that the Red Sox have accomplished that feat since 2000. Boston also had zero players strike out in a nine-inning game — the first time Boston’s bats didn’t fan in a game since April 23, 2010.
Rutschman’s sluggish start to his tenure in Boston? Snapped with a 2-for-5 night that included an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“Just going out there before the game, being in the other bullpen, and just having fans actually cheer for you when you’re in the bullpen? It’s a different feeling,” Rutschman said of his first game with the Red Sox at Fenway.
Rafaela shook off an uneven road trip with a 3-for-5 night, with all three base hits standing as doubles. Wilyer Abreu drove in two runs, Nick Sogard roped two doubles out of the leadoff spot, and Caleb Durbin reached base four times with three singles.
Monday’s performance was marked by several individual milestones as well. Mickey Gasper tucked a pitch just past the Pesky Pole in the seventh for his first home run in a Red Sox uniform, while reliever Wyatt Olds fanned two D-Backs in the ninth as part of his first big-league appearance.
And Willson Contreras — one of Boston’s season-long stalwarts — deposited a pitch just over the first row of the Monster Seats for his 25th big fly of the year, marking a new career-high in dingers for the 34-year-old veteran.
“Feels good to finally overcome the 24-homer [mark] … I always was wondering if I had a healthy, full season — what is the number was gonna look like? And thankfully this year it’s been one of the best years of my career,” Contreras said postgame. “I’ve been healthy. Right now, I’m trying to stay healthy, trying to stay on the field.
“But it’s a dream come true. I mean, overcoming your own stats means that you’re putting up the right work. You have a good work ethic, and the most important thing is that I’ve been helping the team to win.”
If there was anything that wasn’t a recent reversal in results for Boston, it was Bello — whose dominance out of the bullpen has been the status quo for months now.
After Alec Gamboa opened the game by getting four outs, Bello ferried Boston’s pitching through a hefty portion of Monday’s game — allowing just one run over 4.2 innings of work while earning the win.
For all of his struggles this year as a starter, Bello has been a difference-maker since getting pushed to the bullpen — posting a 0.85 ERA in 52.2 innings of work as a reliever. Since getting recalled from Worcester amid a midseason demotion, the 27-year-old righty has a 0.99 ERA.
“I think the biggest thing with Brayan here over the course of the last few weeks is he’s throwing the ball really well. You can see it in his demeanor,” Tracy said of Bello ahead of Monday’s game. “He feels really confident himself. He has accepted whatever role that he needs to be used in that helps this team win.
“He’s ready to do it. That’s been the biggest thing that I’ve seen. So we’re like — in his mind, he probably still, long-term, believes, ‘I’m a starter.’ I think we believe that. It’s like, right now, it’s about winning ballgames, and he’s willing to take down whatever role we need him to take down for us to help us win a game. That’s what he’s going to do.”
One blowout win doesn’t completely erase the shortcomings unearthed from a disheartening road trip.
But, if the Red Sox want to get back on track and carry this second-half surge into the fall, a night like Monday was just what Tracy’s club needed to right the ship.
“We came out swinging … And one through nine, we just put up good at-bats,” Contreras said. “So it was a good night.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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