BOSTON – At last, the comforts of home were felt by the Red Sox. And not a second too soon. When Mickey Gasper, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu scraped the Green Monster on three consecutive pitches for doubles in a furious, fifth-inning sequence, Fenway felt alive in a way that has been infrequent this season. Though the doubles by Gasper (.090 expected batting average) and Abreu (.010) were hardly rockets, and rather misplayed by Nicky Lopez, who had moved from second base to left field to start the inning, they also represented a team getting some breaks from the quirky dimensions of its home park – and finally taking advantage of them. For the Red Sox, Friday night’s 10-1 victory over the Rangers snapped a streak of five straight home series that opened with a loss. Believe it or not, it was the first time the Sox put double-digits on the board at home, and third overall this season. “I think it’s not that cold anymore and they’ve been crushing balls the other way too, and now the balls are getting to the wall,” said Rafaela. “It’s not about hitting doubles at Fenway Park. It’s about winning games. It doesn’t matter where. The fans want to see us win here, and that’s what we’re trying to do.” Wall ball, something the best Red Sox teams have turned into an art form, has been largely absent from the repertoire this season. Perhaps Friday was the start of something. “To see some balls get driven that way was nice,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “Just to see balls get driven like that in general, balls finding gaps, hitting some home runs, it was awesome.” By winning either of the final two games of this series, Boston would win its first set at Fenway since taking the April 8 rubber match against the Brewers. Yeah, it has been a while for a team that has underachieved as a whole (28-39), and glaringly so (11-21) at a Fenway that hasn’t been friendly enough in ‘26. But the clock is ticking, and the Sox know it. During Thursday’s off-day, club president/CEO Sam Kennedy said in a radio interview that “unless things change dramatically," the Red Sox might have to detour from the preferred buyer’s lane and shift to sellers prior to the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline. There was no dramatic change in the way Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.03 ERA) performed. The 36-year-old veteran (one of the bright lights for the Sox this season) set the tone by scattering five hits and a run over six innings while walking none and punching out seven.
