Sox break Fenway funk, hope plenty more to come

BOSTON -- After starting the season with a 7-3 West Coast road trip, the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park to open a 10-game homestand with optimism. Those good vibes quickly dissipated, with the club entering Saturday just one loss away from setting a franchise record of dropping their first five home games.

The Red Sox avoided a trip to the wrong side of history, putting together a 7-2 win over the Angels to even the series at one game apiece and snap an eight-game losing skid at Fenway dating back to Sept. 23, 2023.

Here’s a look at what went right for the Red Sox, and how Saturday might represent a turning of the tide at Fenway Park.

Coming out strong
After they were blanked in Friday’s series opener, Boston set the tone early on Saturday. The Red Sox put up a four-run first, highlighted by a two-run, 429-foot homer from Triston Casas, which was sandwiched between RBI singles from Masataka Yoshida and Ceddanne Rafaela.

Casas is now 13 for his last 41 (.317), with three homers and six RBIs in that span. Yoshida has recorded a hit in four consecutive games. Wilyer Abreu went 2-for-4 on Saturday, marking the second straight game in which he’s had multiple hits.

“I think it was a matter of time that I was going to get my rhythm back,” Abreu said. “I made some adjustments and brought them to the plate and am starting to see some results now.”

“He’s a good hitter, and we gotta play him, that’s the bottom line,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’ll find at-bats, he’s a good hitter and he’s a good defender, too. Just happened that early on it was hard to do it, but where we’re at right now roster-wise it makes a lot of sense to have him out there against every righty, at least every righty, and just throw him in the outfield. He changed the game today offensively, did a good job running the bases and defensively he was outstanding.”

Rotation trend continues
Amid all the lows this past week, the Red Sox have enjoyed one constant: dependability from their starters. Boston’s rotation entered Saturday with a 1.82 ERA, its lowest through 14 games in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).

Cooper Criswell, joining the rotation in Nick Pivetta’s place after the right-hander was placed on the injured list, continued the starters’ strong run on Saturday. Criswell gave up two runs and struck out four with one walk in his four-inning season debut, including a 1-2-3 first.

“I felt pretty good,” Criswell said. “Second and third inning I threw a few too many pitches than I would have liked, but bats got it going early, got some runs on the board early and that just gives you that much more confidence.”

Criswell will play a key role for the Red Sox after the rotation took a major blow in losing Pivetta, who pitched to a 0.82 ERA in two starts before he was shut down. Pivetta played catch on Saturday and is hopeful to return by the end of the month, but until then, Boston will rely on Criswell, who entered Saturday with two career Major League starts.

“Like I said in Spring Training, he’s a good pitcher,” Cora said. “They put up good at-bats, they fouled off some pitches, but he can move the ball around.”

Defense
After committing three errors on Friday night (bringing their season total to 16), the defense played a clean game on Saturday.

David Hamilton, who has taken over shortstop duties for the foreseeable future with Trevor Story likely out for the season, has two errors on the year. On Saturday, the 26-year-old shortstop helped turn a key play to get Boston out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, retiring Zach Neto on a forceout at second base.

Their first Fenway victory in the books, the Red Sox wrap the second series of their 10-game homestand on Sunday, hoping to build off the momentum of Saturday’s breakthrough.

“You’ve gotta get one before you get two,” Casas said. “We’re just gonna do our homework tonight. Come in with a game plan for tomorrow and try to execute it, because we have a good team still, no matter who’s down or who’s out, we still believe in this group. So we gotta keep putting together good at-bats and, you know, solid defense and then those things will hopefully translate to wins.”