Boston Red Sox
Outgunned and outmanned, Boston still found a way to beat the Dodgers decisively on Friday night.
Boston is having an unbelievable run, and nobody can stop them, not even the World Series favorites. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
COMMENTARY
Back in May, would anybody have seriously believed these Red Sox were capable of boat racing the World Series favorite Los Angeles Dodgers? Probably not, but that’s exactly what transpired Friday night.
Even without Willson Contreras, who left the game early on after taking a pitch off his helmet, Boston’s bats never relented. Ceddanne Rafaela was the hero, flipping a 4-3 losing effort into a 5-4 winning one, but nobody fell short in their individual roles either.
Jarren Duran rode the wave of his recent criticisms and still plated the first run of the game. Andruw Monasterio shut the door with a 2-RBI double later in the game. Masataka Yoshida and Carlos Narvaez plated a runner of their own as well.
Friday night was the same Red Sox baseball fans have been accustomed to seeing over the last month. But it was a true and unequivocal judge of just how good Boston can be to execute to that level against arguably the best team in MLB.
Caleb Durbin is a revelation at third base now. Contreras leads the whole team, through words and actions. Wilyer Abreu and Rafaela are monsters on offense and in the outfield. And suddenly, the Red Sox don’t have any real holes in the lineup. Or at least none that have come up in a majorly concerning way.
There are just days until the trade deadline now, and the Red Sox should be all-out buyers at this stage. They’re still missing Roman Anthony, Garrett Crochet, and plenty of other hands that could add value, and tearing it up despite that. They didn’t care how gloomy the season looked 60 days ago, and that dark cloud is long gone now.
Now, Friday’s win could be a flash in the pan in Los Angeles. Maybe the Red Sox lose the next two. Maybe they get blown out. But maybe they don’t. This Boston squad is capable of just about anything.
And even if they do drop the next two, they’ve still gotten a taste of winning meaningful baseball games against the caliber of teams that they’ll have to run through in October.
If Friday’s game was a measuring stick, Boston proved it is the real deal. Saturday and Sunday, we find out just how good they really are.
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