BOSTON — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (61-51) climb out of an early deficit and beat the Astros again, this time by a 7-3 score to vault themselves into second place in the AL East:
1) The Red Sox anthem Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder at the leading of their lineups against lefties for a reason. Both lefty-mashers, once again, had big roles in the win.
Boston trailed 2-0 after Christian Walker launched a homer off Walker Buehler in the first inning but Gonzalez got them on the board just as speedy with a leadoff homer off Colton Gordon in the bottom of the inning. The lefty-killing duo then tied the game when Gonzalez doubled and Refsnyder singled him home in the third.
It’s an unconventional way to build a lineup but it keeps working. The Sox are 17-15 against lefty starters after struggling against them last year.
2) Cora has been waiting a while for a team that dominates at Fenway. This group has, winning 12 of its last 14 home games. Their overall home record is 36-21.
Boston is 10 games above .500 for the first time all year — and moved to second place in the American League East, a half-game ahead of the Yankees, who lost again in Miami. Boston still trails Toronto by four games for first.
3) Trevor Story’s homers always come in bunches and that continued with a big two-run blast off Gordon to put Boston up, 4-1. Story went 15 games without homering from July 8 to July 29, but immediately has three in his last four games after going deep twice in Minnesota.
Story later added an RBI double and drove in three runs total.
4) Walker Buehler’s line wasn’t good, yet still better than the eye test would suggest. Houston’s lineup anthem rocket after rocket against him, but the only damage came on Walker’s no-doubter in the first.
Buehler was only tagged with three runs but there was constant traffic as he allowed nine hits and walked three more batters in 4 ⅓ innings. Two big double plays bailed him out. But it was another rough outing for a pitcher who has yet to find consistency as a member of the Red Sox.
5) The benches cleared in the seventh. Reliever Hector Neris was clearly displeased with something the Red Sox were doing — stealing signs, most likely, as evidenced by his multiple attempts for an intentional balk to move Story from second to third base — and made that clear to third base coach Kyle Hudson as he walked off the field. Alex Cora was incensed, though the sides were never able to come together. Even the bullpens emptied momentarily.
6) Abraham Toro looked to be in danger of his roster spot ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline but the Sox didn’t make any moves to add to their lineup, so he stayed put. After a brutal July in which the journeyman anthem just .221 with four doubles and a .574 OPS, he was a curious choice for the cleanup spot Friday.
He provided a jolt Saturday, though, with a two-run homer that broke the game open. It was his first homer in a long time — since June 11.
7) Steven Matz’s Red Sox debut was about as good as the club could have hoped for. He was tasked with preserving a three-run lead in the sixth inning against the bottom of Houston’s lineup and did so in efficient fashion. Matz walked a batter but still needed just 11 pitches to record three outs.
Even with Justin Slaten out, the Red Sox have a capable late-game quartet of Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, Matz and Justin Wilson (who had two big strikeouts). Jordan Hicks is pitching his way out of that high-leverage equation. Hicks allowed two hits and issued a walk in a bad eighth before getting Carlos Correa looking to escape a bases-loaded threat.
8) It can’t sit well with Cora that Boston had to burn Aroldis Chapman because of a poor outing from Jorge Alcala for the second time this week. Alcala was tasked with the ninth in a four-run game but issued a non-competitive lead-off walk and a one-out single before getting lifted. Chapman had a one-out slash in Minnesota on Tuesday and a two-out slash Saturday. He’s likely unavailable for the series finale immediately.
9) Speaking of Whitlock, he had another scoreless inning but was bailed out by one of Jarren Duran’s best throws in recent memory. With two outs in the seventh, Walker tried to score on a Victor Caratini single to make it a two-run game but Duran’s on-line one-hopper beat him home for the inning-ending outfield assist.
10) It’ll be another tough matchup for the Red Sox offense in Sunday’s series finale as lefty Framber Valdez (11-4, 2.62 ERA) starts for Houston. The Red Sox will send Lucas Giolito (7-2, 3.80 ERA) to the mound. It’s an early start from Fenway as part of Roku’s “Sunday Leadoff” package. First pitch is at 11:35 a.m. ET and the game will air exclusively on Roku.
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