Seattle starting pitcher George Kirby delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in Boston. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

BOSTON — Only a handful of people knew what George Kirby was going to do when he stepped on the mound at Fenway Park in the Wednesday afternoon heat.

With a large portion of the announced crowd of 34,643 still arriving at the ancient ballpark, Kirby’s first pitch went largely unnoticed. Even for the media watching, most weren’t sure what they’d just seen.

Kirby used a short delivery with no leg kick and flipped a pitch at leadoff hitter Jarren Duran that was high and inside and registered 74 mph on the stadium radar gun.

The Red Sox television announcers seemed perplexed, checking the MLB Statcast data, which initially and incorrectly labeled the pitch a split-finger fastball. But for those familiar with Kirby’s repertoire and mechanics, they recognized it right away – he had just thrown his first knuckleball of the season.

“It was indeed a knuckleball,” Kirby said. “And it was a ball. I want that one back. I wish I could’ve started 0-1.”

The pitch also had meaning. Tim Wakefield, one of the most famous knuckleball pitchers in recent baseball history, died on Oct. 1 after a long battle with brain cancer. It’s why Kirby decided to throw a knuckleball in his first pitch at Fenway, where Wakefield had been a stalwart with the Red Sox for 17 seasons, as another tribute to the Boston favorite.

“I was thinking about it for like the last two or three weeks,” he said. “I loved watching the guy. He was a special player. So just being able to do it here in Boston was pretty cool.”

Growing up in Rye, New York, Kirby started throwing a knuckleball with his friends and continued to use it through high school.

“I loved watching (Wakefield),” Kirby said. “I started throwing knuckleballs because of him. Even though I grew up a Yankees fan at heart, I loved just watching him do his thing all the time. It was incredible. It’s just an honor to be able to do something like that.”

For those unfamiliar, Kirby’s pitch repertoire does include a knuckleball. It’s a pitch that he’s had since childhood, knuckling up all four of his fingers. It’s a real pitch that has nasty movement. But it also requires a different delivery, so it’s not something he can use often. Despite threatening to use it more, he’s now thrown it twice in his career.

A year ago in Game No. 162, Kirby started against the Rangers after the Mariners were eliminated from the postseason a day earlier. In the first inning, he unleashed a first pitch knuckleball to Corey Seager, who loves to swing at the first pitch. The pitch danced and cut and Seager took a vicious hack at it, missing badly. He then gave a bemused look to Kirby, who was smirking at him on the mound.

CEDDANNE RAFAELA struggled mightily in his first 66 games this season. He batted .210 with a .237 on-base percentage, .358 slugging percentage and .595 OPS in 243 plate appearances, but the 23-year-old right-handed hitting rookie made some swing adjustments, including positioning his hands lower to give him a better chance to get to pitches quicker.

The adjustments have worked. Since June 12, Rafaela has batted .324 with a .359 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .859 OPS, five homers, seven doubles, two triples, 18 RBI and 23 runs in 39 games (156 plate appearances). The Red Sox center fielder/shortstop said the biggest difference doesn’t have to do with adjustment of his hands or anything like that though.

“I want it,” Rafaela said when asked the biggest difference for his turnaround. “I really want it right now.”

It’s not that he didn’t want it at the beginning of the year. He did. And he’s actually wanted to win Rookie of the Year since childhood. But he understands it has taken him time at every level before performing at his best. So instead of feeling discouraged and continuing to struggle more, he put in the work. He described it as “finding himself,” something he had to do at different levels of the minors.

“When I get to that point that I find myself, I think that’s when I do good things,” Rafaela said. “And I think I’m at that point right now. … The first month, I was really trying to find myself and be more consistent. But I’m happy where I’m at right now. I’m helping the team. It’s not only with my at-bats, but my defense.”

Rafaela has the sixth best odds (+1200) to win AL Rookie of the Year, per DraftKings, and has a chance at it with a big second half.

“To be honest with you, that was a goal growing up,” Rafaela said. “It’s an honor for me to be in the talk with other good players. So yeah, obviously it’s on my mind, but it’s not something I’m going to stress myself out about. I just want to win ballgames.”

Manager Alex Cora said Rafaela has made himself “part of the conversation.”

“What he’s doing is very unique,” Cora said. “To play center and to play shortstop a lot, that’s very unique. And I think offensively, he’s making strides. He’s getting better.”