Casas' moonshot draws comparison to legendary slugger

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Red Sox switched time zones for Friday night’s 3-2 win against the Giants at Oracle Park, but that did nothing to take Triston Casas out of the zone he has been in for several weeks.

The rookie left-handed hitter’s in-season turnaround has helped fuel the Red Sox into the heart of postseason contention.

The Sox (56-47) stretched their winning streak to five games and their MLB-best record since June 30 to 16-5 to remain 1 1/2 games behind the Astros and Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card standings.

While most of the lineup was quiet in the opener of this six-game swing on the West Coast, Casas had two loud hits (an RBI double and a rocket solo homer) that propelled Boston to victory over the Giants.

The homer against tough San Francisco righty Logan Webb in the fifth inning really stood out. It was hammered to left-center at an exit velocity of 109.5 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected distance of 435 feet.

There aren’t many baseballs that are hit that deep into the seats in that section of Oracle Park.

Even Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was a firsthand witness to the greatness of Barry Bonds in the early 2000s as part of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, was wowed by the way Casas impacted the ball on that swing.

That’s why Cora didn’t flinch when asked what the most impressive part of Friday’s win was.

“That home run to left-center,” said Cora. “I played here a lot of games and I saw one of the great ones dominating from like 2000 to 2004, and that ball [Casas] hit to left-center, that’s one of the best home runs I’ve seen here, and I saw many. I think I saw 500, 600, 700, 73 [in 2001 by Bonds], and that was a great swing.”

Casas was honored to hear the comparison to Bonds.

“Yeah, definitely, any time that I get my name mentioned with Barry Bonds, it’s awesome,” Casas said.

Casas has gone deep seven times in the 12 games he’s played since the All-Star break. The only players in Red Sox history besides Casas to hit seven homers in a 12-game span at the age of 23 or younger?

Ted Williams, Tony Conigliaro, Mookie Betts, George Scott and Ellis Burks.

Casas is tied for the MLB lead in homers since the All-Star break while putting together a ridiculous batting line of .472/.568/1.139 in that stretch.

"I probably shouldn’t try to sneak a fastball by him at that point,” said Webb. “He’s a good fastball hitter. Looking at the [scouting] sheet, it’s lit up red. I probably shouldn’t have thrown it."

While the latest heroics of Casas took center stage, there were some other crucial moments that made the win possible.

Turner, Winckowski combine to snuff out rally
In the bottom of the seventh, the Giants had two on and nobody out, down just a run. That’s when Blake Sabol belted one toward the middle and Justin Turner, who was making just his fourth start of the season at second base, ranged over to field the ball. From the ground, the veteran flipped the ball straight from his glove to shortstop Yu Chang for the force.

The glove flip from the ground isn’t a play Turner can practice in fielding drills.

“It was just kind of in the moment,” said Turner. “And I was joking earlier, I’m glad it wasn’t too low so I didn’t have to bend over too far. People don’t think I can get down there anymore. It ended up being a pretty good play.”

But there were still runners at the corners with only one out when reliever Josh Winckowski came up clutch, striking out Brett Wisely and Marco Luciano.

“I think the most impressive thing of this game was Winckowski getting out of that seventh with the back-to-back punchouts with first and third,” said Casas. “I thought that was huge.”

Ref’s big hit
Yet another big moment took place in the top of the eighth, when Cora called on Rob Refsnyder to pinch-hit for Jarren Duran against lefty Taylor Rogers.

Refsnyder, who has destroyed lefties at a clip of .358/.475/.457 this season, rifled an RBI single to left for some insurance. That extra run proved to be vital when Chris Martin gave up a solo homer to Joc Pederson in the bottom of the inning.

“That’s his job,” Cora said of Refsnyder. “That’s what he’s here for, and he’s been really good at it.”