TAMPA, Fla. -- Facing a late-game deficit against a lefty reliever, Jarren Duran turned on a sinker and unleashed a week's worth of frustration as he watched his two-run, go-ahead homer against the Tampa Bay Rays sail out of the stadium.

Uncharacteristically, he took a half-second to watch the ball fly out of the ballpark before flipping his bat and trotting the bases. The unbridled emotion spoke to his -- and the team's -- tension of late.

"Honestly, it felt like a 20-pound weight was off my shoulders," a sheepish Duran said after a sigh-of-relief-inducing 11-7 win over the Rays.

The win officially eliminated the Rays from the postseason but, more importantly, kept the Red Sox tied for the second American League wild-card spot with the Houston Astros. The Cleveland Guardians, who have won nine of their last 10 games, sit 1 1/2 games back.

Duran's ferocious swing not only gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead but also loosened up a tightly wound Red Sox offense as it poured on seven runs the following inning, sending 14 men to the plate.

"I feel like we've been lining out a lot, hitting a lot of balls hard, and tonight it just felt like everything was falling for us, which is nice to see every once in a while," Duran said.

The tone-setter atop the lineup, Duran entered the day with an .866 OPS in games the Red Sox won and a .683 OPS in losses. Fourteen of his 16 homers have come in Red Sox wins, an indication that when he's hitting, the Red Sox are winning.

But to get to October, the Red Sox cannot rely on one or two batters to do it all and will need more nights like Friday. With eight games remaining, they're finally starting to show some signs of life with key contributions up and down the lineup.

Alex Bregman homered to left in the third and drew two walks. Ceddanne Rafaela went 4-for-5 with a double. Nate Eaton used his immense speed to score from first on a hit-and-run in the second, then drove in a run later in the game.

The Red Sox lost their offensive identity earlier in the month when rookie Roman Anthony went down with an oblique injury. They might just be starting to find it again as they fight to remain in the postseason hunt. The Red Sox have not won more than three games in a row since losing Anthony. And as they embark on their final trip of the season, they are coming off two straight series losses, having lost three of their past four series.

Friday could be a tone-setter, a wake-up call, a reminder of who they can be. Rather than dwell on what the team hasn't done, though, Bregman reframed its recent failures.

"I feel like the mentality in here is we don't want to just get into the playoffs -- we want to play well in the playoffs and go play for another month," Bregman said. "So, for us, getting back to playing our best baseball on a consistent basis is super important. That's why I feel like the last few days could be good for us. We can learn a lot from it. And I feel like this team is ready to roll."

A one-off night of 11 runs, though, won't do much good if the team can't build off it. But in a promising development, the Red Sox figure to get a key piece of the offense back. Outfielder Wilyer Abreu, who has missed 29 games with a calf strain, will fly to Tampa on Saturday and is expected to be activated. Abreu, who is second on the team with 23 homers, adds power and further lengthens the lineup, allowing manager Alex Cora to use Eaton and his speed off the bench late in games.

Kyle Harrison is scheduled to make his first Red Sox start Saturday, after debuting on Sept. 10 with three innings out of the bullpen. That made Friday's win with ace Garrett Crochet on the mound feel all the more necessary. Crochet wasn't perfect, allowing three runs over six innings, but he struck out nine and induced 19 swings-and-misses. He gave up two home runs and is up to 14 homers through his last nine starts, after allowing 10 through his first 21 starts. So often throughout the year, he has been the main storyline, picking the team up start after start. This time he was happy to cede the headlines to his offense. After exiting in the sixth down 3-2, Duran's homer picked up the lefty.

"That was unreal, man. Left-on-left -- (Garrett) Cleavinger's a really good arm," Crochet said of the big home run. "That's what he's capable of, though. You expect him to put together a good at-bat every time he steps up to the plate. And that was a really big one for us."

Jarren Duran's blast powers offense to win as Red Sox fight to stay in race