Red Sox stay hot with historic 11-run outburst in first two frames

BOSTON -- The heat wave that engulfed Boston the last couple of days carried right over to the Red Sox’s batting order for the first two innings of Tuesday night’s 12-9 victory over the Athletics at Fenway Park.

You want to talk about a heater?

How about all nine members of Boston’s starting lineup producing at least one hit and one run through the first two innings, a span which saw manager Alex Cora’s club score 11 times.

Eight of those runs came in the second inning, sparked by an RBI triple by Ceddanne Rafaela and back-to-back homers by Wilyer Abreu (three-run shot) and Dominic Smith.

It has been a long time since the Red Sox were quite that hot through the first couple of innings of a game.

The last time Boston’s entire starting lineup had at least one hit and one run scored in the first two innings? Back on June 25, 2003, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, a game the Red Sox won 25-8 over the Marlins.

“We are a dynamic offense,” said Cora. “We're going to have some big innings.”

The Red Sox themselves are in the midst of a hot streak, ripping off seven wins in the last eight games, including a 17-6 mark dating back to June 12.

On June 14, Boston was 14 games back in the American League East and three games back in the Wild Card standings. As they left the ballpark on Tuesday night, they were 6 1/2 games back in the division and leading the Royals by two games in the race for the third Wild Card. The Red Sox trail the slumping Yankees by 3 1/2 games for the first Wild Card spot, but are just two behind their rivals in the loss column.

“We talked about being greedy a few weeks ago, we saw a window [to move up] in the standings, but I think the window is getting bigger,” said Cora. “It's actually a door and we can actually accomplish this. We’re going to keep looking up there and keep playing good baseball and let's see where it takes us.”

For the first time this season, Boston is 10 games over .500 at 50-40.

“It’s important,” said Cora. “The sooner the better. It took us a while but now we’ve got to go to the next step. We’ve still got this series and the next one [before the All-Star break] and if we keep doing that, like I’ve been saying all along, there’s gonna be some meaningful games here at Fenway Park.”

A team that came into the season with little in the way of expectations outside of their own walls is starting to catch some attention from the locals, according to Cora.

“I can tell you how I [know] that,” said Cora. “The last two years, I paid for a lot of drinks when I went to dinner. This year, I’m not paying for too many. So, it’s been fun.”

One thing that would aid Boston's push for the postseason would be to play better at home. Boston is 29-17 on the road, but Tuesday’s strong showing got them to 21-23 at Fenway.

“The last time we were really good here was in ‘18 and ‘21,” Cora said. “So yeah, when we've been pretty good at home, we’ve got a pretty good chance to play meaningful games in October.”

As the home crowd gets more engaged with the team, Cora expects the vibe at Fenway is going to create a more substantial advantage.

“I do believe the atmosphere is going to change,” Cora said. “It’s going to change because it's a good baseball team.”

The positive vibes are definitely spreading throughout the clubhouse for a youthful, talented team.

“Yeah, it's been very fun just to see the results that we've been having as of late,” Abreu said. “It's been great to see the harmony and the good vibes that this team has with one another and how it's resulting in wins.”