SEATTLE — On the first day of the Red Sox’ brave new world, the baseball gods offered a downright poetic transition.
Roman Anthony, the heir apparent to the homegrown face of the franchise, hit the first home run of his career in the first inning of a 2-0 victory over the Mariners on Monday night, helping the club extend its win streak to a season-high six in a row.
In the opening moments of their first game following the Sunday trade of Rafael Devers to the Giants, Anthony blasted Logan Gilbert’s sinker that didn’t sink to right-center field.
At 21 years and 34 days, he became the youngest Red Sox player to homer since, yes, Devers, who was 20 years and 275 days old when he went deep a day after his debut in July 2017.
“In Seattle,” a smiling Anthony said of Devers’s long ball. “I knew.”
It served as an example — in the earliest and smallest sample possible — of the in-house upgrades that Red Sox leadership hope can offset the loss of the team’s biggest bat.
For neophytes Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell, the future is now. They suddenly find themselves in the middle of what the Red Sox are trying to accomplish. Without Devers, who had been a stalwart in the No. 2 hole, the new-look lineup featured Anthony batting third, Mayer fifth, and Campbell ninth.
“This is who we are,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’re going to use the kids. They’re going to play. We’re going to have different lineups. We love the at-bat (with Anthony generally). We do. He put a good swing on it. Throughout the game, he did a good job. He’s not getting hits, right? But the at-bat is real. So we’ll keep going.”
Anthony said: “For us young guys especially and for all of us, I think the goal is the same. It’s to help this team win every day. Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve been doing a great job of that.”
Righthander Lucas Giolito tossed six scoreless innings, Jarren Duran tripled and scored, and Aroldis Chapman returned after a couple of designed days off with a perfect ninth inning for the save.
The Red Sox became the first team since the 1972 Angels to win at least six consecutive games, all by no more than two runs, while never scoring more than four runs in a contest.
By beating the Mariners (36-35), who also are in the playoff mix, the Red Sox (38-36) moved into the final American League wild-card spot. That doesn’t mean a whole lot in mid-June, but it speaks to the possibilities available to them in the months ahead — especially if they keep up this energy, which Cora loved.
“There was a lot of energy today,” he said. “For the group, it’s a tough day, man. Raffy, he’s Raffy. He’s not with us anymore. And we got a job to do. We gotta continue. Today was a good day for us.”
Cora credited a group of experienced players — naming Giolito, Walker Buehler, Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Story — with helping set that tone.
“We got a bunch of veterans here who have been here, done that,” Cora said. “They’ve been through stuff like this before — obviously not stopping the plane and getting people off the plane. But they talked, they showed up. You saw them early, stretching out there. We got a bunch of kids too, and I think that helps.
“But as a group, we had goals before the season. There were going to be injuries and moves and stuff, but we’re going to continue. This is a good stretch for us. We gotta keep playing good baseball.”
Anthony provided the highlight off Gilbert (five innings, two runs) but is just 2-for-21 (.095) in his first eight days in the majors.
“I haven’t felt overmatched,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”
Giolito struck out 10 and walked one. His biggest moment came in the third, when Seattle loaded the bases with nobody out. He escaped by striking out the Mariners’ top three hitters, not allowing so much as a ball in play as he got J.P. Crawford trying for a fastball up, Julio Rodríguez whiffing on a changeup inside, and AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh flailing at a curveball in the dirt.
“At that point, I just gotta turn my brain off and rip it as hard as I can,” said Giolito, who has totaled a dozen innings without allowing an earned run in his past two starts. “(Catcher Carlos Narváez) created a great game plan to get through that as far as his pitch calling (and) locations. I was just trying to execute right through his glove.”
That marked the start of 12 consecutive batters retired to finish Giolito’s outing.
As shocked as the Red Sox players were to see Devers get dumped, the outcome Monday didn’t surprise Giolito.
“That was hugely important for us, to continue the positive vibes, continue to have high energy,” he said. “I had a feeling we were going to be in a good position to win just because, despite everything that happened, we were able to come together and maintain a very positive attitude. Everyone seemed loose and was having fun before the game. When it came time to compete, we competed.
“Winning solves everything. No matter what’s going on in the outside, no matter what people feel or what’s going on, if we win baseball games, we put ourselves in a good position to win more and more, that’ll take care of it.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.
