Red Sox keep Wild Card pace with win over Nationals

WASHINGTON — For a week, the offense had mostly gone into hibernation, and it was threatening to make winter come early for the Red Sox.

But on Friday night, Hunter Renfroe broke the seal when he mashed a three-run homer to center with one out in the sixth inning, fueling Boston to a huge, 4-2 victory over the Nationals.

By winning for just the second time in their last seven games, the Red Sox pulled within a game of the Yankees for the top American League Wild Card spot, and the Mariners’ 2-1 loss to the Angels later Friday night lifted Boston into sole possession of the second spot. Toronto, which downed the Orioles, is tied with Seattle, a game behind Boston.

The Red Sox can clinch a postseason berth as early as Saturday with a win over the Nationals (4 p.m. ET) as well as losses by both the Blue Jays (3 p.m.) and Mariners (9 p.m.).

All this pennant-race drama with just two games left in the regular season.

“You win, then you look around and see where we’re at,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We’ve got one job to do and it’s to win ballgames. Obviously what’s going on, you see it all over the place. You’re locked in on your game, of course, but you know what’s going on around the league.”

For the Red Sox, the most important thing was that they took care of their own business, making it more likely their season will stretch beyond Sunday.

After Eduardo Rodriguez, who had a gritty performance to pick up the win in what was possibly his last regular-season appearance for Boston, struck out the ever-dangerous Juan Soto on an eight-pitch at-bat to end the fifth, the Red Sox finally generated a rally that led to something.

It started in an important way as Xander Bogaerts, who had just two hits in his previous 24 at-bats, raked a single to open the sixth. With one out, J.D. Martinez, who has warmed up the past few days, knocked a single to left.

That set up Renfroe, who mauled a 2-2, center-cut fastball at 106-mph off his bat and a projected distance of 423 feet.

“It felt good,” said Renfroe. “I missed the first two pitches that I really should’ve hit hard. He [Josh Rogers] left a fastball over the middle part of the plate there. I was able to get a good barrel on it, and the right degree of angle.”

Bobby Dalbec made it back-to-back jacks when he hammered a first-pitch slider over the wall in left-center.

Finally, the Red Sox could breathe again.

“I mean, everybody was jumping around,” said Rodriguez. “So that’s how big it was. Right now, every run we score, we’re gonna be happy. We’re gonna jump [around] the dugout. That’s how it was in that situation. Every time we score a run, you guys are gonna see us jumping around all over the place. That was really, really, really cool and special to be out there.”

Give credit to Cora, who went to a unique outfield alignment in the National League park so he could keep his big right-handed bats in the lineup against the left-handed Rogers.

Cora joked with a college football comparison that he was going “Boise State” and prioritizing offense over defense. Kyle Schwarber started in left, with Renfroe playing center and Martinez playing right. That allowed…