After losing the White Sox series, and losing Game 1 of this series is such abysmal fashion, this series win was extremely gratifying. The team’s offensive issues flared up again tonight with a few missed scoring opportunities, but the defense was pristine and the bullpen absolutely shined. Sean Newcomb deserves credit too for doing as well as he did against a team that had torched us for 20 runs in 2 games, in a Spring Training ballpark no less. That made this game all-the-more of a nail-biter—surely the Rays would score at least one run to tie it up, or they’d score more than one because they’ve been so dominant against us. Not so today. We now get back to .500 and can have a happy flight home!

Three Studs:

Sean Newcomb: He surprised everybody and grinded tonight! His final line was 4.2 IP, 4 Hits, 0 ER, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. With help from the defense, such as another great play by Trevor Story at shortstop and a superb throw from Carlos Narvaez to nab Christopher Morel at second, Newcomb was able to keep the Rays scoreless, an impressive and important feat given that the Red Sox only had one run.

The Bullpen: Absolutely crushed it today, even without Aroldis Chapman, who pitched last night. Weissert, Whitlock, and Slaten combined for nine strikeouts and only one hit over their 3.1 innings of relief.

David Hamilton: Provided the only run of the game with his first homer of the season.

Three Duds:

The Offense (again): Only five hits today was not great, and would’ve been a much bigger concern had we lost. Given too that those hits put runners in scoring position and nothing came of it—notably in the top of the 4th, 5th, and 6th—the Sox easily could’ve scored more than one run this game and made things not so tense. Only seven strikeouts from the team today is an improvement though!

Trevor Story:/Triston Casas: Story went hitless for the first time since April 9th, and Casas went hitless as well, but Casas had some loud outs and both players did walk once each.

Carlos Narváez: No dice behind the plate today offensively (went 0-4), but he did have my personal Play of the Game defensively.

Play of the Game: Narváez throws out Morel

Nice to see our catchers can still throw runners out, and this not only prevented a scoring opportunity for the Rays, but gave the Red Sox the third out needed to end the inning.

After all the horrible losses the Sox have already had, to be back at .500 feels like a relief—but maybe not yet a totally deserved one. It’s up to the team to fully unlock their potential again, and some games back at Fenway (with some warmer weather!) will hopefully do the trick.