It looked like Michael Soroka had the Boston Red Sox figured out.

They took a 2-0 lead on a Ceddanne Rafaela RBI double and Jarren Duran RBI single in the second, but then the Washington Nationals right-hander set the Sox down in order in the third and worked around David Hamilton’s two-out single and 14th stolen base in the fourth, striking out four of seven batters between those frames.

Then it unraveled.

Soroka didn’t make it out of the fifth. He didn’t even record an out in the seven-run inning, which paved the way to an 11-2 Boston victory in the series opener.

“It’s huge. It makes it a lot easier to pitch, that’s for sure,” Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito told NESN’s Jahmai Webster of the ample run support of late: 26 runs over his last two starts.

Roman Anthony opened the fifth with his seventh double, and Soroka walked Abraham Toro and gave up a single to Carlos Narváez to load the bases.

“Roman, bullet in right-center, Toro keeps putting good at-bats, and we just kept going,” manager Alex Cora told reporters. “We were very aggressive on the bases too, going first to third, that was a good sign there. And obviously we talk about the 11 o’clock start, but they were ready to play.”

Then he walked Wilyer Abreu to force in a run. 3-0.

Trevor Story followed with a two-run single. 5-0 and so long, Soroka.

But the Nationals starter’s departure did nothing to curtail the fifth-inning fireworks. Marcelo Mayer greeted Zach Brzykcy with an RBI single to left. 6-0.

Brzykcy then managed, at last, to record the first two outs of the inning, a Rafaela flyout and Hamilton strikeout.

Not so fast. Duran’s 22nd double of the season brought Story and Mayer home. 8-0.

Anthony, who’d led off the inning with a double, returned to the plate and drew a walk, and Toro lined a single to center to score Duran. 9-0.

“The at-bats of Roman have been amazing,” Cora said. “That last one shows you who he is, you know? Just staying humble and taking his pitches, and getting on base.”

Only then did Brzykcy get Narváez swinging to finally stem the bleeding.

Exactly one month prior, Giolito exited his June 4 start charged with seven earned runs on eight hits in just 1 2/3 innings, his ERA up to 6.42.

The turnaround since then has been nothing short of spectacular. Over his subsequent four starts in June, Giolito yielded just two earned runs (0.72 ERA). His final June outing was a seven-inning gem that lowered his ERA to 3.99.

At 80 pitches after six, Giolito wasn’t done. Not even close. His fourth 1-2-3 inning of the day made Friday his second consecutive start of seven full frames.

And he just kept going. Keibert Ruiz led off the eighth with a single and CJ Abrams drew a one-out walk, but Cora didn’t come out to the mound until his starter had recorded the second out, against the fourth Nats batter, Alex Call.

“He didn’t want to come out, so I appreciate that,” Cora said. “He’s a competitor. He feels like the more pitches he throws, the better it is for him.”

As Giolito walked back to the dugout, the large contingent of Red Sox fans at Nationals Stadium gave him a standing ovation. He’d yielded just four hits, one earned run, three walks and struck out seven. At 7 2/3 innings, it was his longest outing in almost four years (Aug. 9, 2021), and one of the nine longest performances of his career. He threw no more than 17 pitches in any frame.

“I like going deep into the game. It’s important for us to do that and alleviate the bullpen a little bit,” Giolito said. Even so, he then told reporters, “I’m like, tired as hell after that.”

Friday happened to be the nine-year MLB veteran’s first career start against the team that drafted him out of high school in 2012 (16th overall) and with whom he debuted in 2016.

“It’s so long ago,” Giolito said when asked if there was anything sentimental about the occasion. “I was definitely excited to come back, because it’s been so long, and I checked off another team … There’s two more left before I face every team in the major leagues, but I’m not facing any of the same guys. It’s a different team now.”

Over five starts since that June 4 implosion, Giolito owns a 0.83 ERA, with 31 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings. He’s nearly halved his season ERA, which now sits at 3.66

“Staying consistent, that’s been my goal pretty much my whole career,” the righty said. “Too much lack of consistency, and so it’s good to be in that spot, and I just want to keep it going.”

Giolito also told Webster, “It’s been good, but you can’t be satisfied ever in this game, ’cause as soon as you’re satisfied, you get punched in the face. I’ve been there a million times.”

Story’s resurgence has been similarly remarkable. The veteran shortstop hit .216 with a .585 OPS over 56 games between Opening Day and the end of May. He entered Friday hitting .301 with a .858 OPS since June 1, then extended his hitting streak to six games with a 4 for 5 performance, three runs and four RBI. It was his first four-hit game since 2023.

“It’s been a while that he hasn’t struggled,” Cora said of Story. “He’s been actually really good. Good defensively, hitting the ball hard … He’s been really good since Milwaukee, just like Ceddanne, and we need him.

“We challenged him a month ago. We need him, and he’s been coming through.”

“We have a chance to control our destiny here,” Story said. “We gotta set the tone, and I think we did that today.”

The Red Sox are 10-1 in their last 11 July 4 games.

They’re 44-45 on the season.

And all-time, it was their 9,999th win.

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