The Boston Red Sox needed a spark Wednesday night, and they got it in the form of Blake Swihart.
The Red Sox entered the game against the Oakland Athletics limping, having dropped both of the series’ first two games via shutout. Boston finally broke through in the fifth inning when Swihart belted a solo home run to center field to snap the club’s lengthy scoring drought. The round-tripper got the visitors going in their eventual 6-3 win at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Not only was the home run Swihart’s first of the season. It also came on his 27th birthday.
The importance of Swihart’s long ball wasn’t lost on the Red Sox, who somewhat called the shot well before first pitch out in Oakland.
“Just a sigh of relief,” Brock Holt said, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “We finally got on the board. We were joking in the shower if Blake doesn’t hit that home run we probably don’t score tonight either. So that’s huge for him to come in, second game behind the plate, called a good game, caught great and got three hits. But that home run kind of lightened the mood a little bit. It was like, ‘All right, we scored. Now let’s try to score some more.’ So that was a big hit for us.”
Swihart wasn’t done doing damage, though. The young catcher capped off his 3-for-4 night by igniting Boston’s ninth-inning rally with a two-out single.
Not a bad way to celebrate your birthday.
