Immediately after the most consequential swing of the Red Sox’ 4-2 win over the Athletics on Monday, Ceddanne Rafaela spiked his bat into the ground, unable to bring himself to watch the ball fly.
The Red Sox’ bases-loaded threat in the sixth inning — their best and arguably only scoring opportunity of the game — was all but over.
“In this ballpark,” interim manager Chad Tracy said, “you don’t know.”
And so that popup kept going, going, going — until it was gone for the first grand slam of Rafaela’s career.
Read more from Tim Healey at BostonGlobe.com/Sports. | 
