ATLANTA — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (28-31) snap a season-long five-game losing streak and beat the Braves, 5-1, behind a strong all-around pitching performance and Trevor Story busting out of a month-long slump in a powerful way:
1) Story took a month of frustration out on a Grant Holmes slider in the fourth and gave the Red Sox the lead for good. Story, who had hit .131 with 42 strikeouts and just a single extra-base hit off a non-position player in his last 31 games, got a breaker that hung and didn’t miss it. His seventh homer of the year left the bat at 109 mph and traveled 431 feet.
Story struck out in his other three plate appearances. But the homer was a big one.
2) In a game of inches, sometimes you need a break to go your way to snap out of a slump. The Red Sox got one on an NFL-style toe-drag by Abraham Toro in the seventh. With two men on and two out in a two-run game, Matt Olson pounded a 3-2 Brennan Bernardino pitch up the middle but Story fielded it and threw on a hop to first. Toro, stretching out, looked like he came off the bag as Olson was ruled safe, then errantly threw home as a run scored. But the Red Sox challenged and it was ruled that Toro kept a toe on the bag for the third out of the inning.
It would have been easy to see Atlanta tying the game — or taking the lead — with the right-handed Austin Riley up next. But by less than an inch, the Sox stayed up two.
3) Lucas Giolito’s sixth start in a Red Sox uniform was an effective — but abbreviated — one. He worked around five hits to allow a single run while striking out three and walking two. But his 85th pitch, which got Marcell Ozuna to pop out for the second out of the fifth, was his last. Manager Alex Cora decided to pull Giolito after 4 ⅔ frames and turn to Justin Wilson for the left-on-left matchup against Matt Olson.
It’s possible Giolito (who missed a year-plus due to elbow surgery) was due for a “de-load day,” a la Garrett Crochet, after throwing 99 pitches last time out against the O’s. It’s also quite possible the Sox didn’t want Olson — who was 7-for-10 with four homers off Giolito in his career before Friday — to face him a third time. Wilson struck him out.
4) Very quietly, Toro has given the Red Sox a little something with the bat. He had three hits Friday, including an RBI double to provide an insurance run in the sixth. The veteran utility man didn’t arrive in Boston with much fanfare in the wake of Triston Casas’ injury. But he has hit .300 with an .860 OPS and could be in line for more playing time, even with Kristian Campbell’s first base debut set for Sunday.
5) The opening run of the game happened on a Red Sox error… that was charged to the wrong fielder in the first. With two men on, Olson singled into right field and Wilyer Abreu corraled the ball, then threw a one-hopper home that looked like it would easily beat Ronald Acuña’s attempt to score. The ball glanced off Carlos Narváez (his mask, in fact) and allowed the run to score. The error was charged to Abreu despite his strong attempt.
6) Tasked with 4 ⅓ innings, a rested bullpen delivered after Thursday’s day off. A group of Wilson, Georgia native Garrett Whitlock, Bernardino, Greg Weissert and Aroldis Chapman slammed the door on Atlanta with a scoreless showing.
The Olson groundout against Bernardino may have served as the most important sequence of the game. Wilson got the win.
7) The strikeout woes continued for the Red Sox, who punched out nine times against Holmes and 14 in total. The offense has scored just 11 runs in four games so far on the road trip.
Story led the way with 3 Ks and was one of four Red Sox with more than one.
8) Boston had a prime chance to add on to its lead in the seventh when a Rafael Devers walk loaded the bases with one out and Cora pulled Wilyer Abreu for lefty-killer Rob Refsnyder against southpaw Dylan Lee. But Lee punched out Refsnyder on three pitches, then lucked into the third out when Carlos Narváez smoked a 105.8 mph liner into the glove of Alex Verdugo in left.
9) A ninth-inning chance to add on, though, didn’t go to waste. Singles by No. 8 and No. 9 hitters Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela and a misplay fielder’s choice on a Jarren Duran grounder set the table for Devers to open things up with a two-run single up the middle off lefty Dylan Dodd. Weirdly, the four-run advantage didn’t stop Cora from using Chapman in the ninth in a non-save situation.
10) Braves righty Spencer Schwellenbach (3-4, 3.42 ERA) went seven strong innings against the Red Sox in an Atlanta win on May 18 at Fenway. Boston will look to get revenge on him with righty Walker Buehler (4-2, 3.95 ERA) on the bump. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET.
