The Red Sox avoided a sweep by the Astros and gave themselves a "happy flight'' to New York for the start of a big weekend series. Where to start?
1). Martin Perez has been quietly excellent for the Sox.
He's far from the biggest name in the Red Sox rotation and he doesn't qualify as having the best stuff. But Perez has been incredibly consistent for the Sox this year and a case could be made that he's actually been their best starter.
After blanking the Astros over 7.2 innings, he lowered his ERA to 3.09, easily the lowest in the rotation. At 3.75, Garrett Richards is next closest and he's almost three-quarters of a run higher. Perez has made 11 starts this season and has allowed more than three earned runs just once. In fact, in seven of his last eight starts, Perez has yielded two earned runs or fewer, and in four of the last seven starts, it's been one or no runs.
Not bad for a guy generally considered the team's No. 5 starter.
Watching Perez zip through the first four innings without a strikeout but needing just 37 pitches, you half expected the game to be televised in black-and-white.
2). There's an opportunity for Christian Arroyo if he can grab it.
Twice sidelined in the last month after being hit on the same spot (back of his left hand) by pitches, it's been difficult for Arroyo to get untracked. He clearly wasn't 100 percent when he came back from the first one, and after the second, needed additional time, including a brief rehab stint at Triple A Worcester. It was clear that his timing wasn't yet in place.
His three-run homer in the second inning was huge for a team that had been so inept in the first three games of the series, scoring a grand total of just four runs. It was also a reminder that Arroyo has some pop in his bat, and that starting in 2019 while at Triple A, he unlocked some power and showed he had the ability to drive the ball.
No one else has claimed the starting second base job. Marwin Gonzalez, while a superb defender, has been given lots of playing time and yet is batting just .190 with an OPS of .554. No matter how versatile Gonzalez is or how well he plays at a number of positions, it's hard to justify his presence in the lineup on a regular basis with those kinds of numbers.
If Arroyo can show any consistency in the coming weeks, he can make the second base job pretty much his own.
3). Walk in the park.
Sure, the runs were nice. The homer was big, as it came early in the game and provided Perez with some support, allowing him to remain aggressive in his approach. And it was important that J.D. Martinez had two hits, Xander Bogaerts snapped a ghastly 0-for-24 slump and that Rafael Devers connected on a fastball for his second-inning double.
All positive signs, to be sure.
But don't overlook the fact that the Red Sox also earned six walks -- seven, if you count an intentional walk to Devers in the fifth inning.
The Sox came into Thursday ranked last in the American League and 29th among all MLB teams in walks. Obviously, a team with the kind of firepower the Sox possess shouldn't be taking a passive approach at the plate. Not with the likes of Bogaerts, Martinez, Devers, Alex Verudgo and others in the lineup. After all, the Sox began this week ranked either first or second in most of the significant offensive categories, including slugging, OPS and, the most important signifier of all, runs scored.
But they don't have to be swinging so often that they're getting themselves out, either. It's surely no coincidence that the Sox struggled mightily in the first three games of the Houston series while working a total of four walks in those games. Too often, the Sox were expanding the zone and chasing pitches.
A little aggressiveness is a good thing. Alex Cora's admonition from 2018 -- to "hunt fastballs'' and "do damage'' -- should still be the operating credo for this team. But the balance had been thrown off for much of the weeks and the patience they showed at times helped recalibrate that.
4) Sox head to New York with a little momentum.
Had the Sox been swept in Houston, it wouldn't have been calamitous. But picking up a win -- a complete team effort, at that -- surely puts them in a better frame of mind heading into their first series with the Yankees Friday night in the Bronx.
In the NBA and NHL playoffs, you often hear: It's not a series until the home team loses a game. Around here, it's not baseball season until the Red Sox and Yankees meet. Better for the Sox to not have a losing streak hanging over their heads as they head to Yankee Stadium.
In each of the last two seasons, the Red Sox were outclassed by the Yankees. Too many of the games simply weren't competitive. That's unlikely to be the case this time around.
Better than a third of the way through the season, we probably didn't expect the Red Sox to pitch as well as they have, nor for the Yankees to struggle as much as they have offensively. Still, there's a long way to go, and 19 head-to-head meetings to sort all of this out.
The Sox also get some luck, since they'll miss facing Gerrit Cole -- who started and lost to Tampa Bay Thursday afternoon.