Red Sox stack up singles during a six-run fourth inning, shut out Braves as starter Connelly Early cruises
It seems premature to suggest the Red Sox are nearing a crossroads. Still, the reality of their last-place standing in the American League East confronts them in giant scoreboard lettering at Fenway Park every day, forcing the team to acknowledge divergent paths through the summer and up to the trade deadline.
The Sox recognize their offense has been deficient. For now, they’ve been reaching out to teams in search of available players who might upgrade the lineup, a “Buy” sign still illuminated. But they also know where the “Sell” sign sits in the basement.
“[Conversations about offensive upgrades] continue and will continue until such time as we feel like, if we’re not going to be making a run, then you have to pivot and address what you might do as an alternative,” Red Sox CEO/president Sam Kennedy said Wednesday on NESN. “We’ve got to get going. We’re obviously realistic, and we really need to start winning games.”
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Hours later, the Sox heeded the Bat Signal, erupting for an 8-0 win over the Braves that took most unusual form. After the teams played to a scoreless tie through three innings, the Red Sox produced a paper-cuts-and-lemon-juice six-run rally in the fourth inning without any extra-base hits. Five singles, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and two errors led to their biggest inning of the season at Fenway, inspiring festivity among the 34,093 in attendance.
“Crazy,” interim manager Chad Tracy said of singling the opponent to death. “Singles work when you stack them. That has been, at times, the problem. We can look up and get eight or nine hits, but we don’t stack them. But we stacked them today. That’s usually what equals big crooked-number innings.”
The rally started innocuously. Masataka Yoshida rolled a single to left field, reached second on Mickey Gasper’s walk, and both runners advanced 90 feet on a Nick Sogard sacrifice bunt.
With one out and runners on second and third, Atlanta pulled in its infield. Marcelo Mayer chopped a ball to Matt Olson at first base, but the three-time Gold Glover uncharacteristically muffed the play for a run-scoring error and a 1-0 Sox lead.
A crack in the dam quickly became a flood. Isiah Kiner-Falefa drilled an RBI single, and after Jarren Duran’s broken-bat single reloaded the bases, Ceddanne Rafaela (3 for 5) lined a two-run single to center. After a wild pitch allowed Rafaela to join Duran in scoring position, Wilyer Abreu zipped a two-run single to center to make it 6-0.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa beat a throw home to Braves catcher Chadwick Tromp to score one of the Red Sox’ six runs in the fourth inning.Barry Chin/Globe Staff
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the rally marked the first time since 2022 the Sox scored at least six runs in an inning without benefit of an extra-base hit, and the first at Fenway since 2011. This team, which has often lamented its inability to turn extra-base hits into runs, basked in a reversal.
“It’s baseball. It loves you and hates you at the same time,” Duran said. “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.”
Mayer tacked on another run with an RBI single in the seventh inning. Then, finally, after the Sox singled for each of their first 14 (!) hits of the game, Duran drilled a solo homer to right in the eighth inning to account for the final run.
It was the eighth home run of the year for Duran, whose 4-for-5 night continued a recent hot streak (.368/.422/.789 in his last nine games).
Armed with a massive lead, Sox starter Connelly Early cruised against one of the top offenses in baseball. Early handled the Atlanta lineup meticulously, conceding an unusual number of walks (three) but refusing to allow a quick-strike lineup to drive the ball.
The pairing of his low- to mid-90s four-seam fastball and diving changeup — complemented by a sprinkling of four other pitch types — left the Braves flailing or mis-hitting balls throughout the contest. Early concluded his night with seven shutout innings, scattering four hits and striking out seven.
“Seven innings and zero runs any day is pretty good,” said Early, who recorded his second scoreless outing of the year of that duration.
Connelly Early walked off the mound with a satisfied look after his seven scoreless innings.Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Early lowered his ERA to 2.95 for the year, including a 1.77 mark in his last four starts. He’s the first Sox rookie with multiple outings of seven-plus shutout innings since Henry Owens in 2015.
“Some of us forget he’s a rookie,” said Duran. “Every day he comes on the mound it’s nice to be in the outfield and just kind of chill when he’s doing his thing. Sometimes you get lost watching him carve up there. . . . He’s an absolute dog.”
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Alex Speier can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @alexspeier.
