Red Sox reactions: Adley Rutschman’s big night leads to another win over Arizona

BOSTON — Instant reactions to the Red Sox (68-58) getting ahead early, coughing up the lead and then pulling away late in a 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks at Fenway:

1) In a topsy-turvy win, Adley Rutschman had — by far — his best night in a Red Sox uniform. The new catcher had three RBIs and hit his first Red Sox homer.

Rutschman, who was 2-for-4 with a walk, had a two-run single to open the scoring in the first inning, then smoked a solo shot — a 107-mph, 401-foot blast over Pesky’s Pole — that tied the game in the third.

Rutschman was 1-for-17 with an infield single, five walks and nine strikeouts in six games on the road trip but has come alive at Fenway. He now has four hits (including two for extra bases) in the last two games. It sure looks like he’s getting his timing back fast after an abbreviated, two-game rehab assignment.

2) The Red Sox clinched their first series win in four tries with their second triump in a row over a good Diamondbacks club. Boston had dropped series to the Athletics (three games), Blue Jays (four games) and Pirates (three) since its last series victory, a three-game sweep over the White Sox from August 4-6.

Boston has now won four of six games since snapping a five-game losing streak Thursday in Toronto. They’re back to 10 games over the .500 mark. The win improved Boston’s home record to 31-31 (.500). The Sox have won 14 of 18 at home (and 19 of 25).

3) The win didn’t come easy. Boston scored three times off Merrill Kelly in the first inning, then blew the lead when Ranger Suarez allowed a grand slam to Gabriel Moreno to cap a two-out rally in the third. From there, though, it was all Red Sox, who tied the game on Rutschman’s homer and scored six unanswered runs to lengthen their lead as the night went on.

Overall, it was another very strong offensive night for the Sox, who had 13 hits (and now have 20 runs on 29 hits so far in the series). After not striking out in the series opener, they had only three strikeouts Tuesday.

Boston has scored in 11 of 16 innings so far against the Diamondbacks.

4) Mickey Gasper had zero home runs in his first 145 plate appearances as a member of the Red Sox, dating back to 2024. In the sixth inning, he hit his second in five trips to the plate.

After hitting his first homer of the season in the seventh inning of Monday’s blowout, Gasper added an insurance run with a solo shot (that traveled 414 feet to deep center) off reliever Kevin Ginkel. Gasper later drove in another run on an RBI single in the seventh; in total, he reached base four times from the No. 9 spot, walking twice.

Virtually every member of the lineup got in on the fun against Kelly and a parade of relievers, but Gasper’s night — like Rutschman’s — stood out.

5) Suarez had a strange, uneven outing but still pitched into the sixth inning for the first time since June 29. He was tagged for four earned runs — all on that Moreno grand slam in the third inning. He allowed four hits, issued two walks and struck out three in 5 ⅓ innings before being pulled at 93 pitches.

Suarez’s night looked to potentially have unraveled with two outs in the third. With a 3-0 lead, he allowed back-to-back soft singles, then hit Corbin Carroll with a pitch to load the bases. With a 2-0 count to Gabriel Moreno, Suarez left a sinker over the plate and Moreno crushed it into the Monster seats to give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead. From there, though, Suarez didn’t allow another run and the Red Sox cruised.

6) The Red Sox deserve credit for punching back in the bottom of the third, as they scored twice — on Rutschman’s game-tying blast and some hustle by Caleb Durbin, who singled, took second on a fielder’s choice, stole third and aggressively took home on a Kelly wild pitch to score the go-ahead run. Suarez then gave the Sox the shutdown inning they needed, throwing just five pitches in a 1-2-3 fourth.

From there, it was all Red Sox, who kept adding on.

Andruw Monasterio’s RBI single in the fifth made it 6-4. A two-run sixth (including Gasper’s homer and a Willson Contreras RBI single on a broken-bat infield chopper) brought the score to 8-4. In the seventh, Jarren Duran singled, stole second and scored on Gasper’s second RBI knock of the evening.

7) With Suarez unable to complete six innings, we got a look — at least for a minute — at how Chad Tracy will manage the late innings of a close game with both Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten on the injured list with elbow inflammation.

With a man on second and one out, Tracy turned to Tyron Guerrero, who pitched for the first time since his disastrous outing in Toronto six days ago. Guerrero gave up a single but escaped the jam, then came back out for the seventh after the Sox had added a run to make it 8-4. Guerrero got four outs in his first multi-inning appearance since July 24.

From there, with the lead suddenly widened, Tracy stayed the course. Erik Miller pitched a scoreless eighth and passed the baton to Wyatt Olds, who pitched for the second straight night.

8) During their long, dominant run in July, the Red Sox often punched first. They scored in six consecutive innings in Monday’s rout, then came out Tuesday with a big first inning against scuffling veteran Merrill Kelly.

Nick Sogard and Ceddanne Rafaela (bunting) reached on singles before Kelly walked Wilyer Abreu. Rutschman then made it 2-0 with a single into shallow left and Durbin added a third run on a sacrifice fly. At that point, it looked like it might be another runaway win.

9) Other offensive contributors included Sogard (two singles, walk, two runs), Contreras (RBI single, double, walk), Durbin (single, RBI, run) and Monasterio (two singles, RBI).

10) Wednesday’s series finale will pit rookie Payton Tolle (8-6, 2.97 ERA) against steady Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (7-1, 3.11 ERA). Because the Diamondbacks are flying home after the game, it’s a 4:10 p.m. ET start from Fenway.

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