Carlos Narvaez has been a revelation for the Red Sox this season, but the rookie’s heavy workload has begun to take its toll. Over the past month Narvaez has batted just north of .100 and last week he nearly landed on the injured list due to knee soreness.
If Tuesday night was any indication, the couple of days off his feet made a world of difference.
Narvaez smashed a three-run home run in the top of the sixth to help spark a 14-1 Red Sox rout of the Houston Astros. Narvaez went deep to blow open what had up to that point been a two-run game, and Alex Bregman followed with a two-run shot of his own, his second homer in two games back facing his former team.
Roman Anthony also homered for the second straight game and drew four walks to reach safely five times, and with the win the Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak.
“Great win for us, that swing there helped us to open the game a little bit and then Bregman with the opposing and Roman with the nice swing,” Narvaez told NESN’s Tom Caron postgame. “That was big for us to make a statement here and to get the series win tomorrow.”
Much like on Monday, the Red Sox jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the third and hit Trevor Story with a pitch to drive in a run. Masataka Yoshida followed that by sending a cutter to deep center field for a sacrifice fly, though Arrighetti was able to avoid further damage after forcing Abraham Toro to fly out with men still on the corners.
During the inning Trevor Story also recorded his 20th stolen base of the season, making him a perfect 20 for 20 on the year. He is now two home runs away from becoming the 11th player in Red Sox history to record a 20-20 season, following Jarren Duran (last season), Mookie Betts (three times, most recently 2018) and Andrew Benintendi (2017) over the past decade.
Meanwhile, Dustin May shook off his inefficient Red Sox debut and was much sharper his second time out in Houston.
The right-hander struck out five batters through the first two innings, working his way out of a men at the corners jam in the second before shutting the Astros down the rest of the way.
He finished with six shutout innings, holding the Astros to five hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. Only two Astros advanced past first against May, none after the second inning.
It was exactly the type of performance the Red Sox envisioned when they acquired May from the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of last month’s trade deadline, particularly coming after Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet all delivered uncharacteristically poor starts.
Though the Red Sox offense didn’t get much against Arrighetti outside of the third inning, they were able to work his pitch count and eventually got him out of the game after five innings. He allowed just one hit but also five walks, and once Houston went to the bullpen, the Red Sox feasted.
Lefty Steven Okert came on first in the sixth and faced three batters, allowing a leadoff single to Yoshida before recording two lineouts. Then Houston went to righty Shawn Dubin, which did not pay off. He allowed a single to Ceddanne Rafaela and then served up a 383-foot bomb to Narvaez.
Then for good measure he walked Anthony, setting the stage for Bregman’s opposite field shot to make it 7-0.
Wilyer Abreu tacked on another run in the seventh on an RBI double, and in the eighth the Red Sox scored four more times to really put the game out of reach. Anthony hit a solo shot, giving him four on the season, Toro hit an RBI single and Abreu hit a two-run double his next time up. He finished 2 for 4 with three RBI and a walk.
Boston scored two more runs in the ninth off Astros position player Chas McCormick.
Red Sox left-hander Jovani Moran, who was acquired in exchange for Mickey Gasper last offseason and who was just called up on Monday, made his first MLB appearance since 2023 after missing all of last season due to Tommy John surgery. He pitched a scoreless eighth before allowing Houston’s only run of the night with two outs in the ninth.
With Tuesday’s win the Red Sox dropped the Astros into a tie with the Seattle Mariners for first place in the AL West standings. Given how well Seattle’s been playing, Houston could wind up being Boston’s top competitor for the first AL Wild Card spot.
That being the case, Tuesday’s win ensured the Red Sox will hold the season series advantage over the Astros, and a win in Wednesday’s finale would give Boston not only a second series victory but a 5-1 head-to-head record on the season.
Walker Buehler (7-6, 5.40) will get the ball for the series finale against Houston ace Hunter Brown (9-5, 2.51). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Dobbins undergoes surgery
The Red Sox announced Tuesday that right-hander Hunter Dobbins underwent successful right ACL revision surgery, which was performed by Dr. Daniel Cooper at the Carrell Clinic in Frisco, Texas. The Red Sox rookie suffered a torn ACL while covering first base during the team’s July 11 game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the second time he’d suffered the injury in his right knee following an earlier injury in high school.
Dobbins will miss the remainder of the season but is expected to return at some point in 2026.
Stock released
Tuesday the Red Sox released right-hander Robert Stock, who appeared in two big league games this season, his first in the majors since the 2021 season. Stock primarily pitched at Triple-A Worcester for the Red Sox and posted a 3.92 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 85 innings over 19 appearances (15 starts).
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