All week long the Red Sox have come up short with men in scoring position. No matter who came to the plate, when or what the situation, Boston couldn’t seem to get the big hit when it mattered.

Until Saturday afternoon, when Rafael Devers — finally — delivered.

With the game tied 2-2 and two men on in the bottom of the eighth, Devers fouled off four straight fastballs to stay alive before ripping a hard line drive the other way over the head of Washington Nationals left fielder Eddie Rosario. The bases-clearing two-run double proved the difference as the Red Sox won 4-2 to snap their three-game losing streak and get back over .500.

Though he joined the rotation primarily due to Boston’s glut of injuries, Cooper Criswell has proven himself to be more than just a placeholder. The 27-year-old has been outstanding and Saturday he delivered his best performance yet, striking out a career-high nine batters while allowing two runs over five innings.

Both runs Criswell allowed were wind-aided solo home runs to the Green Monster, the first a shot by Joey Meneses in the top of the second inning and the other a lofted fly ball by Eddie Rosario that barely stayed fair in the fifth and was upheld upon review.

Criswell only allowed three other baserunners, one on a single, one on a walk and one on an error. His ERA on the season is now 2.10 through 25.2 innings.

Offensively the Red Sox couldn’t get much traffic against the Nationals’ pitching staff, but unlike in recent games the club actually did capitalize on some of the few chances they got.

Wilyer Abreu, back in the lineup after coming off the bench Friday night, barely missed a home run to dead center in his first at bat, crushing a flyout 380 feet that potentially could have been a home run if the wind weren’t blowing in. His second time up he left no room for doubt, smoking a solo shot into the bullpen to tie the game at 1-1 in the third.

After Rosario put the Nationals back in front, the Red Sox finally broke their streak of stranding runners in scoring position to tie the game. David Hamilton reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually came around to score on an RBI double off the wall by Jarren Duran.

Prior to that knock, the Red Sox had gone 28 straight plate appearances with men in scoring position without plating a run. That streak extended back to the sixth inning of Tuesday’s loss in Atlanta, when Ceddanne Rafaela drove in Vaughn Grissom on a slow comebacker that bounced off the pitcher. That itself was the only hit Boston had in a game where the club otherwise went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

The decisive sequence in the bottom of the eighth came after Rob Refsnyder singled, Romy Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice and the Nationals curiously opted to intentionally walk Tyler O’Neill to get to Devers, a decision that immediately proved costly.