ST. LOUIS -- Bloop and a blast?

For the Red Sox, Sunday¡¯s getaway formula in a much-needed 11-3 victory was more like a mammoth early blast by Tyler O'Neill in his homecoming weekend to St. Louis, and then a series of bloops and other assorted forms of contact from his teammates that found patches of grass.

While salvaging the finale of a three-game series against the Cardinals, the Sox also rode Nick Pivetta¡¯s tremendous start (six innings, one hit, one run, no walks, eight strikeouts).

Considering that the Red Sox had mostly been starved for offense since May 2 -- a tough 4-11 stretch -- they savored every ball that fell in.

¡°That's the beauty of this game,¡± said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. ¡°The numbers are going to say we hit with men in scoring position and it was two infield hits and a bloop single. It¡¯s gonna even out at one point.¡±

O¡¯Neill provided early thunder for a team that needed it, hitting a majestic shot in the top of the first that traveled a Statcast-projected 439 feet to left-center. It was O¡¯Neill¡¯s 40th career homer at Busch Stadium, but first in a visiting uniform.

¡°It was awesome,¡± O¡¯Neill said. ¡°Just like I remember it. Just to feel the positivity this entire weekend was really special for me.¡±

An impressive multi-tasker, O¡¯Neill ripped his 11th homer of the season on a 3-0 pitch, just a minute or so after he spent his time in the on-deck circle mic¡¯d up for a conversation heard by the streaming audience on Roku.

The return of O¡¯Neill created plenty of emotion given the eventful arc of his time in St. Louis.

¡°T.O. was always great to me when I first came up, and he kind of took me under his wing a little bit,¡± said Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan. ¡°He showed me what it was like to play for the Cardinals and I learned a lot from him in the outfield as well. To see him have success is great. I hate that he was against us, but I¡¯m happy for him and his family.¡±

As for the Red Sox, they were happy to get those breaks which had been so elusive recently.

The most impressive bloop was Jarren Duran¡¯s popup that third baseman Nolan Arenado lost in the sun for what was ruled an RBI triple, his MLB-leading seventh of the season.

It was impressive to see Duran¡¯s hauling all the way to third on a ball that traveled 150 feet.

¡°You could tell early in the game, because I started in left, me and [third-base coach/outfield instructor Kyle Hudson] talked earlier, the sun was going to be a problem,¡± said Duran. ¡°As soon as I saw him, I saw him [put his glove over his face], and I saw him going back, and that¡¯s always a tough play. Huddy said he was surprised to have to make a call at third.¡±

In a three-run fifth, Wilyer Abreu and Dominic Smith brought in runs on hits that had exit velocities of 38.4 and 60 mph respectively.

¡°It was good to watch,¡± Cora said. ¡°They kind of did this to us [Saturday]. Wily put the ball in play, Dom put the ball in play and good things happened.¡±

Rafael Devers put his team back into blast mode when he unloaded for a two-run homer in the top of the sixth, giving the star slugger a home run in five straight games to tie a club record.

¡°I mean, he can swing it,¡± said Cardinals left fielder Alec Burleson. ¡°Me and [Arenado] have actually talked about his swing a lot. It's a swing that comes up in conversation.¡±

The difference for Devers on Sunday is that this was the first homer of the streak that came during a win.

¡°When you win, everything is sweeter, everything is better,¡± Devers said. ¡°And you can tell the difference within the clubhouse when you win, which is what we want to do every single day.¡±

After a barrage of tense losses and mostly stressful wins over the past couple of weeks, the Sox finally enjoyed some breathing room on this steamy afternoon in St. Louis.

¡°Today, Nick was great,¡± said Cora. ¡°We needed that. Obviously Raffy with another big swing, but I think it started with Tyler on the 3-0 count, put a good swing on it, hit the homer and we were able to breathe.¡±