1st-inning spark helps Boston's offense click to even series

KANSAS CITY -- Boston’s most critical week of the season didn’t go as planned, but the Red Sox believe Saturday can be the start of a last-ditch effort to reach the postseason.

They will need help, but the Red Sox’s 9-5 win against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium allowed Boston to gain ground in the American League Wild Card standings for the first time since Aug. 25.

The Red Sox sit 5 1/2 games behind the Rangers for the final spot and hold the tiebreaker against Texas (2-1) with three games to go. Boston also holds the tiebreaker against Toronto (7-3), which sits four games ahead of the Red Sox.

Saturday’s win snapped a five-game skid, and now the Red Sox have 26 games to try to get back into the postseason picture. Boston has confidence it can do it.

“I don’t see why not,” Alex Verdugo said. “This is the final stretch … so at this point, it’s everybody be here, everybody be present and work hard for the final goal. That way at the end of it, if we reach [the postseason] or if we don’t, we can say we went about it in the right way.”

If the Red Sox are going to make a miraculous run, they will need Verdugo’s bat to come through as often as it did against the Royals. The 27-year-old tripled in his first at-bat and came a homer shy of Boston’s first cycle since 2018.

Verdugo’s triple was one of four extra-base hits the Red Sox crushed off Royals starter Alec Marsh in the first inning.

“I guess it was the spark we needed,” Verdugo said. “In hindsight it’s easy to say that, but [Rafael] Devers, [Triston] Casas and the guys coming up behind me to have big at-bats and control the zone and stick to their game plans, I think that was the biggest thing.”

After falling behind by seven runs after three innings on Friday, Boston flipped the script and jumped on Marsh for three runs in the first before adding another three in the third.

For a team that hadn’t won in a week with playoff aspirations, it was the type of start that eased the tension in Boston’s dugout.

“It’s been tough. It’s been the other way around, right? They score early and then we have to scramble,” manager Alex Cora said. “So at least for one night, it felt good. It was the other way around. We put pressure on them right away, we got to their bullpen, and now we have a chance to win the series and move on.”

Casas capped the three-run first with a 407-foot blast. The first baseman is batting .338 with 13 homers and 28 RBIs since the All-Star break, which are both more than he had in the first half -- in 35 fewer games.

“He had a great game plan against [Marsh], he knew what he was looking for and he didn’t miss it,” Cora said. “He hit that ball to right-center, which was good, ran the bases well and has been playing better defense too. He’s been great. He’s been one of the best hitters in the big leagues in the second part of the season.”

Boston ranks second in the AL in batting average (.264), fourth in runs (676), third in slugging (.438) and second in hits (1,236), but if the Red Sox are going to make a run, they are going to need help on the mound. Tanner Houck’s outing on Saturday was a good start.

Houck, making his third appearance since returning from the injured list, gave up one run through the first five innings before being tagged with three in the sixth. He became the first Red Sox starter in seven games to throw five innings, and 95 pitches were his most since May 2. Houck earned his first win since April 20 in another attempt to earn a spot in the 2024 rotation.

“It’s good to know that I don’t have a pitch count or anything like that,” Houck said. “I can just go out there and compete at the highest level I can to put the team in the best position to win.”

Boston struggled at the plate during its skid, but the win provided another glimpse at what the team is capable of when everything clicks. If it can, one last push is possible.

“I do believe offensively that there is another run in this team in September,” Cora said. “Everybody [can] get hot at the same time, and see where it takes us. At least for today it was a good one.”