By Brian MacPherson, Providence Journal Hanley Ramirez didn’t come close to hitting a home run off the right-field façade now adorned by the No.

The return of Ortiz to Fenway Park to have his number retired only made more glaring the lack of production Boston has seen this season from the hitter who was always supposed to replace him.

And so, while it takes considerably less power to sneak a fly ball inside the Pesky Pole than hit one out to straightaway center field, it had to be encouraging for the Ortiz-less Red Sox to see Ramirez go the other way with some authority.

Red Sox starter Rick Porcello pitched effectively through six innings but ran into trouble in the seventh, yielding three straight extra-base hits to hasten his exit.

He yielded three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking one – an encouraging bounce-back effort after an awful start in Houston last weekend.