The day the Red Sox reclaimed the narrative

DENVER - Rafael Devers rose up, and so did the Red Sox.

Alex Cora's club insisted its four-game losing streak was simply an aberration. Nothing to see. All was still right with the world. And, sure enough, they seemed prescient after jumping all over the Rockies with six runs after the first three innings.

There were two mammoth home runs from Tyler O'Neill, whose second traveled 465 feet - the longest of his career and second-furthest hit by a Red Sox this season. The Sox were actually jumping all over a lefty pitcher, with Colorado's Ty Blach lasting just 2 1/3 innings.

And then there was Cooper Criswell.

The Red Sox starter set the tone early and never let his foot off the gas, ultimately pitching seven shutout innings in a place that rarely happens. In fact, Criswell became just the 51st visiting starter to throw as seven frames without giving up a run in Coors Field's 30-year history.

But, reclaiming the pre-All-Star break vibes wasn't a done deal. That became evident when Rafael Devers could be seen writhing in pain with nobody out in the sixth inning.

Devers dove on a Ezequiel Tovar's ground ball into the shortstop/third base hole, landing awkwardly on his right shoulder. Suddenly, the Coors Field stands went eerily silent, with Cora running to tend to his injured third baseman.

"Seeing him go down like that, it's not easy. He's the backbone of this ball club and has been carrying us," said Romy Gonzalez, who joined teammates Jamie Westbrook and Rob Snyder in first coming over to Devers. "He's a tough dude. You could hear a pin drop. Any fans appreciate the type of player he is and nobody likes to see him go down ... He's as tough as they come."

"When he went down all of us were like ... That's our guy. That's Raffy Devers. It looked like it was pretty bad," Westbrook said. "Immediately your mind is hoping he's alright, but he just went down so it just feels like a gut punch. He's a tough dude."

But Devers rose up, as did the Red Sox.

All was right with the world.

“He’ll be fine," Cora jokingly said when asked about his thoughts as he walked toward Devers. "No, I mean, obviously the worst, right? We've been through this path before but he's OK. He said he just jammed it. He took some vicious hacks in the last at-bat. He said he’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

"At the beginning I was a little bit scared, but after that, I was sure that it was nothing serious," Devers explained. "But yeah, at the beginning I felt a little bit scared because I didn't land in a good way."

About an hour later, the Red Sox had officially rediscovered the momentum last scene when leaving for the All-Star break. The two teams directly in front of them in the Wild Card chase - Kansas City and Minnesota - both lost, leaving the Sox one game in back of both.

They said that four-game skid was simply a bump in the road, and Tuesday night they certainly made it look like one.