After being outscored 20-3 over the first two games, the Red Sox were just looking to stave off a San Diego sweep. But in order to do so, the lineup would have to attack a virtual unknown in Matt Waldron, Major League Baseball’s only active knuckleball pitcher.

“None of these guys have seen a knuckleball probably, not that I know,” Alex Cora said Sunday morning. “If you see it high, let it fly, I guess. That’s basically the thing, right? If you see it low, let it go.”

With homers from Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran, the Red Sox emerged victorious, 4-1. Waldron exited after 4.1 innings, charged with four runs, three earned, on six hits, a walk, and three strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches – including 32 knuckleballs – 48 for strikes, and had one pitch-timer violation.

“We did some good things offensively. It’s a different mix, we haven’t seen that (in) years,” Cora said with a chuckle.

To some extent, the beauty was in the attempt; a knuckleballer taking the mound at Fenway was a moment bigger than the box score. As children, Waldron and his twin brother taught themselves Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball grip in their backyard, after being fascinated by it in a video game. The pitch sat on the shelf throughout the righty’s college career and early years in the minors, before the Padres encouraged him to bring it out of retirement, and enlisted Wakefield to offer guidance. When the beloved Red Sox pitcher-turned-broadcaster passed away suddenly last October 1, the final day of the season, Waldron, like so many others, was devastated.

As such there was a heaviness in the air that had nothing to do with the intense humidity when Waldron’s first pitch of the game was a 75.1 mph knuckleball. Then, Boston got down to business. Duran saw two of knuckleballs in his four-pitch leadoff at-bat; after grounding out on a four-seamer, he returned to the dugout with a scouting report.

“I’m so glad he threw it the first pitch of the game so that I could see what it looks like, but I mean, that thing’s nasty,” Duran said. “The game plan for me was to just honestly see it above my eyeballs, because if it’s up there, I’m hoping it’s not going to move as much.”

In his first at-bat, Devers watched two knuckleballs go by, then sent a four-seamer soaring over the Green Monster for a 2-0 lead. His 18th home run of the season was his 437th career extra-base hit, tying Manny Ramirez for fifth on MLB’s all-time list for Dominican-born players under 28 years old.

“The early runs obviously help a ton from Raf,” said an appreciative Josh Winckowski, who pitched five shutout innings. “He’s unbelievable. I remember sitting in the bullpen the other day, that one that flew over us seemed like it was still, going up. He’s a really, really special player.”

Waldron’s knuckleball yielded an unearned run in the third – Wilyer Abreu raced home on a passed ball to extend the lead to 3-0 – and leading off the fifth, Duran turned another one into a 109.6 mph homer, the hardest hit of the game, beyond the Pesky Pole.

“We didn’t really want to swing at the knuckleball because you know, it’s a really hard pitch to hit,” said Duran, “But we got it up and it wasn’t moving as much when it was up, so we just put some good swings on it.”

Making his first big-league start since May 2, Winckowski matched his career-high five shutout innings, a feat he’d achieved once before, in June 2022. Armed with an improved changeup, he held the potent Padres offense to four hits, struck out one, and didn’t issue a walk.

“(I) started trying to throw it in the zone at all times, and it’s been, turned into like a high-percentage strike pitch for me and that gets a lot of ground-balls,” the righty said, explaining how he revamped his changeup in Triple-A.

The righty mostly breezed through his afternoon, and when he didn’t, the infield defense picked him up immediately. After he put the leadoff man on in the third and fourth, Enmanuel Valdez and David Hamilton immediately ignited double plays to erase the runners. When Ceddanne Rafaela made a diving catch to ensure the game would remain scoreless after five, Winckowski raised his glove in the air in appreciation as he walked off the mound.

“You definitely don’t take it for granted or take it lightly. It’s a huge deal starting games for the Boston Red Sox,” said Winckowski. He owns a 1.15 ERA over four starts.

As lightning crashed and rain fell on the ballpark in later innings, both teams collected eight hits – including two apiece from Devers, Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida – and wasted opportunities. Boston was 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, leaving six men on base; San Diego went 1-for-8, also stranding six.

Back-to-back doubles off Justin Slaten got the Padres on the board in the seventh. That would be the extent of their rally, as Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen delivered their customary one-two punch in the eighth and ninth.

Thus, a tumultuous June ends on a high note. The Red Sox went 15-10 over the course of the month, including 12-8 down the stretch. Duran made an excellent case for American League Player of the Month, Devers has homered four times in five games, and Jansen is perfect in his last 12 save opportunities. They haven’t lost more than three games in a row in over a month, and they’re an MLB-best 13-1 on Sundays.

“We’re a lot better than what people thought,” Cora said. “We’ll take that, but at the same time, we need to keep improving.”

“I think we’re in a good spot. We had our bumps and bruises, but we’ve shown some really good things,” said Duran, noting their several comeback victories, a recent development. “I think going into the second half, we’re really figuring out where we are as a team and what we can do really well, and I really like the spot that we’re in.”