Jarren Duran Finds the Launch Angle, Jake Bennett Saves the Rotation From Wearing a Fake Mustache
The Red Sox Win a Baseball Game, Alert the Authorities
The Boston Red Sox beat the Houston Astros 3-1 at Fenway Park on Friday night, and for one blessed evening, the operation looked like an actual Major League Baseball team instead of a group of guys trying to assemble a patio set with missing screws.
Your Boston Red Sox are now 13-19, sitting 8 games behind the Yankees in the AL East, because apparently the baseball gods decided the only thing worse than Boston stumbling around April like a toddler in ski boots was watching the Yankees do actual competent baseball things at the same time. The Yankees beat Baltimore 7-2 and sat at 21-11, while Boston remains in last place, but hey, at least tonight they didn’t actively step on a rake and knock themselves unconscious. Progress.
This was Game 32. Astros vs. Red Sox. Fenway Park. 7:10 p.m. first pitch. And somehow, the Red Sox won a tight, low-scoring game without the bullpen turning it into a grease fire behind a Dollar Tree.
Somebody check the plumbing. Something is clearly wrong.
Jake Bennett Walked Into Fenway and Acted Like the Adult in the Room
Jake Bennett made his major league debut because Garrett Crochet is hurt, which is exactly the kind of Red Sox sentence that makes you stare into the distance like a Civil War widow.
And what did Bennett do?
He shoved.
Five innings. One run. Five hits. First big-league win. First career strikeout. And he did it against an Astros lineup that still has enough annoying names in it to make your blood pressure sound like a leaf blower. Bennett gave up the solo homer to Carlos Correa in the third, but other than that, he kept the game under control like a guy who hadn’t been briefed on the Red Sox house rules: panic early, throw wildly, and let the inning become a county fair.
His first career strikeout came against Yordan Alvarez in the first inning, which is a nice little keepsake. Most rookies get a framed lineup card. Bennett got to sit down a monster who looks like he was built in a Cuban missile silo.
He also got help from the defense. Actual defense. I know. I almost spit out my coffee too.
The Red Sox turned double plays in the third and fourth, including Christian Walker bouncing into a Mayer-to-Story-to-Contreras special after Correa had already homered. Then Cam Smith lined into an unassisted double play to Willson Contreras in the fourth, because for once the baseball went to a Red Sox player and he didn’t treat it like it was covered in bees.
Correa Gave Houston the Lead, Because Of Course He Did
Carlos Correa opened the scoring in the third with a solo shot to left-center, his third homer of the season. Because naturally, if anyone was going to walk into Fenway and immediately make Red Sox fans twitch, it would be Correa. The man has been haunting Boston baseball conversations for years like a ghost with a trash can lid.
Houston led 1-0, and every Red Sox fan watching had the same thought: “Here we go. Another night where the offense gets handcuffed by a guy with a 5 ERA and the emotional range of a toll booth.”
But then, somehow, the bottom of the third happened.
Jarren Duran Finally Threw the Offense Into a Shopping Cart and Pushed It Downhill
Carlos Narváez walked. Caleb Durbin singled. Two on. Nobody out.
Now, normally, this is where the Red Sox spend 14 minutes inventing new ways not to score. A shallow fly ball. A strikeout looking. Maybe a baserunning decision so stupid it should come with a helmet and a waiver.
Instead, Jarren Duran stepped in and detonated a three-run homer to right-center.
Red Sox 3, Astros 1.
That was it. That was the offense. One swing. Three runs. The entire scoring output packed into one beautiful baseball moment like Boston’s lineup knew it had a limited attention span and had to get everything done before it wandered off to stare at a ceiling fan.
Duran’s second homer of the season turned the game around, and the Red Sox never gave the lead back. MLB’s official highlight described it exactly: Duran crushed a three-run homer to right field to put Boston ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the third.
And thank God he did, because after that the offense mostly went back to banging plastic spoons on the high chair.
Roman Anthony Was Everywhere Except the Scoreboard
Roman Anthony quietly had himself a night. Three hits. A double. A single in the third. Another single in the eighth. He looked like one of the few guys in the lineup who understood the general concept of “hit ball where people are not standing.”
Anthony doubled in the fifth, singled in the third, singled again in the eighth, and basically spent the night waving his arms like, “Hello? Anyone else want to join the professional baseball portion of the program?”
Unfortunately, the Red Sox did their usual Red Sox thing, which is getting runners on base and then treating home plate like it’s protected by laser security.
In the fourth, Marcelo Mayer singled. Ceddanne Rafaela singled. Passed ball. Second and third. One out.
And then Caleb Durbin hit a fielder’s choice where Mayer got caught at home in a rundown, because apparently the Red Sox have a contractual obligation to include at least one slapstick baserunning sequence per game. It was like watching someone try to escape a revolving door with a backpack on.
The Bullpen Did Not Explode, Which Feels Illegal
Zack Kelly came in for the sixth and immediately gave up two singles, because the Red Sox bullpen cannot simply enter a game without first setting off a small kitchen fire.
But Kelly struck out Christian Walker and Cam Smith, got out of it, and everyone exhaled like they had just survived turbulence over Worcester.
Danny Coulombe handled the seventh. Garrett Whitlock handled the eighth, though he made it spicy because apparently nobody in this bullpen believes in clean living. Christian Walker singled. Yainer Diaz doubled. Runners on second and third. Two outs.
Cam Smith popped out to first.
That sound you heard was 34,000 people at Fenway unclenching at once.
Then came Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, and because baseball is a deranged circus, he gave up a two-out double to Correa before getting Yordan Alvarez to ground out to end it. Chapman earned his sixth save, and the bullpen gave Boston four scoreless innings. Reuters noted Bennett’s five strong innings and the bullpen’s four shutout frames as the backbone of the win.
Four scoreless bullpen innings from this team feels like watching a raccoon file taxes. You don’t know how it happened, but you’re impressed.
Houston Was Bad With Runners On, and Boston Accepted the Gift Basket
The Astros had chances. Oh, they had chances.
Houston left 10 runners on base and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, which is the kind of situational failure Red Sox fans usually recognize because it has been living in their kitchen for a month.
Correa had three hits, including the homer and ninth-inning double. Isaac Paredes reached multiple times. Yainer Diaz doubled in the eighth. Houston kept knocking on the door.
But every time they got close, they either grounded out, popped out, or politely handed the inning back to Boston like they were returning a library book.
For once, the Red Sox were not the team doing the tragic community theater version of “How Not to Score.”
Final Thoughts: A Win Is a Win, Even If It Arrives Wearing a Fake Nose and Glasses
This was not some offensive masterpiece. The Red Sox scored three runs, all on one swing. They hit into two double plays. They wasted chances. They still made you feel like the next disaster was hiding behind the bullpen door with a folding chair.
But they won.
Jake Bennett looked composed in his debut. Duran delivered the one swing that mattered. Roman Anthony kept hitting. Marcelo Mayer extended his hitting streak to nine games, another small sign that maybe the future isn’t just a dumpster with Wi-Fi.
The Red Sox beat the Astros 3-1, snapped a two-game overall skid and a three-game home losing streak, and for one night, Fenway got to watch the other team be the bigger mess.
Was it perfect? No.
Was it pretty? Absolutely not.
Was it better than watching another Red Sox loss where the offense goes missing like a sock in the dryer?
Yes. Take the win, frame it, and don’t ask too many questions.
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