Crawford stung by homers again, but bats erupt to lift him

ARLINGTON – Kutter Crawford's recent propensity to give up home runs reached a historic rate on Friday night at Globe Life Field, but the heavy-hitting Red Sox turned this into a footnote instead of the main storyline.

Sure, Crawford gave up four more homers to make it a record (at least since 1901) of 12 in a span of three starts.

But the Red Sox are developing into that team that picks each other up and a very loud offense lifted Crawford on Friday, as he actually earned the win in his team’s 11-6 victory over the Rangers in the opener of a three-game series.

“It feels good when your offense can put up seven, eight, nine runs,” said Crawford. “We can swing it with the best of them; we’ve seen it all this year. Fortunately for me, tonight they had my back.”

This youthful Boston offense has a lot of things going for it of late.

This includes Wilyer Abreu, the underrated rookie who clubbed an early two-run homer as part of a three-hit, three-RBI night.

It includes another rookie in Ceddanne Rafaela, who mashed a towering two-run homer to left-center field in the sixth that traveled a Statcast-projected distance of 400 feet to give the Red Sox a 9-3 lead.

Don’t forget Connor Wong, who continued to show why he is one of the best offensive catchers in the game this season with a four-hit night.

“He’s solid. Two-strike hits, puts the ball in play, runs the bases well,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Obviously behind the plate he’s been solid for us. But offensively it's night and day compared to last year, especially with two strikes, especially against lefties too."

And on this night, a new piece was added, as 26-year-old Nick Sogard came up with his first career hit in his Major League debut, a two-run single that made all his family and friends that traveled from Sacramento, Calif., very proud.

“Yeah, it definitely was a nice weight off the shoulders -- and to drive in a [couple of] runs and feel like I helped the team win today, that was a good feeling,” Sogard said. “You know, to see guys I’ve watched play on TV for a long time and now my teammates be so supportive of me in that moment was cool.”

And then there was Rafael Devers, who is anything but cool. Fresh off his walk-off double on Wednesday, the star slugger is smoldering. In this one, he belted a double and hammered his 25th homer of the season.

With his 197th career homer, Devers surpassed Hall of Famer Jim Rice for most in club history before turning 28 years old.

For Crawford, it was just a strange night as the first three hits he allowed over the first three innings were all solo homers (two to Corey Seager, one to Leody Taveras).

Then, Crawford actually seemed to find something, retiring the next eight batters he faced.

“It's close. My execution has just got to be better,” said Crawford. “Obviously, you know, I gave up some damage tonight, and all those pitches were pretty much over the middle of the plate. I’ve just got to keep competing and staying on the attack.”

Crawford’s final line (5 1/3 innings, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) proved to be enough on a night the Boston bats surged under the roof of Globe Life Field.

There was little warning for what has happened to Crawford since the All-Star break. In his last three starts prior to the break, he was 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA, giving up one homer in 20 innings.

But the momentum switched, beginning with his July 21 start at Dodger Stadium when he gave up seven hits and six runs (including five homers) in a 9-6 defeat. Then came his start against the Yankees on July 27, when he gave up eight hits and five runs (three homers) over 4 2/3 innings.

Four pitchers in history had given up 11 homers over three starts (Aaron Harang, 2004; Jose Lima, 2000; Warren Spahn, 1958 and Lynn Nelson, 1939).

Crawford one-upped them on Friday, gaining an unwanted piece of history.

“He's been struggling with the long ball here for a while,” Cora said. “So we'll check it out, see what's going on location-wise, pitch usage, everything that comes into play. He feels strong, but there's some big games coming. Obviously, we're in August and he knows that. We’ve just got to keep working.”