There’s something different about these Red Sox.
Over the past few years games like Monday night rarely had a happy ending, and when the Red Sox blew a late lead and allowed five runs with two outs in the top of the seventh, a disappointing loss felt inevitable. But rather than roll over, the Red Sox fought back, and with the NBA champions looking on the young ballclub pulled out arguably its signature win of the season.
Trailing by four runs entering the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox rallied late to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 on a walk-off single by Jarren Duran. Along the way David Hamilton hit a two-run home run and Romy Gonzalez hit a game-tying two-run single in the eighth, and in the bottom of the ninth Ceddanne Rafaela drew an error and advanced into scoring position on a balk, setting the stage for Duran’s heroics.
“That was my first walk-off so I’d have to put it at the top,” said Duran when asked where the win ranked this season. “I think that was a really good team win. We went down and we fought back, we never gave up and I’m so proud of this team, we did everything right today and we just kept it really simple and kept it rolling.”
Coming into the day the Red Sox already had plenty of momentum with nine wins in their last 11 games, and Monday got off to a special start when the Boston Celtics visited the clubhouse shortly before first pitch, showing off the Larry O’Brien Trophy and talking up their crosstown counterparts.
The Celtics threw out the ceremonial first pitch and appeared several times on the jumbotron in the late innings to help rally the crowd, and following the game several Red Sox players said the Celtics’ involvement was awesome and inspiring.
“It’s crazy to see like, you get lost in the fact that we cheer for the Celtics but you don’t see them cheering for you because they’re doing their job and we’re doing our job,” Duran said. “To see them come over here and say hi, know your name, ‘oh we’re big fans,’ guys were like ‘woah you guys watch us?’”
“It was incredible, just with the Celtics being here and celebrating their finals win, it was amazing,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve never really been a part of something like this so hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.”
Yet between meeting the Celtics and the thrilling finale, the game started off as a straightforward pitchers duel.
Tanner Houck, who at this point is looking like an All-Star lock, was outstanding. The right-hander retired the first nine men he faced and sent the Blue Jays down 1-2-3 in four separate innings. He allowed an RBI single to Justin Turner in the fourth but escaped without further incident after drawing an inning-ending double play, and in the sixth he picked up two quick outs before escaping another jam. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with a hit by pitch, a Guerrero double and a Turner walk, but Houck forced George Springer to fly out to end the threat.
At that point the Red Sox led 2-1 thanks to mammoth two-run home run by Rafael Devers in the fourth, who smashed a slow Chris Bassitt curveball 443 feet into the right field bleachers. But in the top of the seventh Toronto got the leadoff man on after catcher Reese McGuire was called for catcher’s interference, and that soon proved costly.
Houck got a strikeout and drew a groundout to bring up two outs again, but the groundout also moved Addison Barger into scoring position, and Kevin Kiermaier capitalized by delivering a game-tying RBI single. That forced Houck from the game, and in his place manager Alex Cora summoned Isaiah Campbell, who had been called up from Triple-A hours earlier.
Campbell’s return to the majors did not go as planned.
The right-hander quickly allowed the go-ahead RBI single to Spencer Horwitz, and then Guerrero crushed the first pitch he saw clear over the Green Monster, a 471-foot rocket that according to Statcast was the fourth longest home run hit in the majors this season.
That was a three-run shot, and in the blink of an eye Toronto led 6-2. Houck was now on the hook for the loss despite having allowed three runs over 6.2 strong innings.
Not helping matters was Boston’s punchless offensive performance against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt. The veteran righty allowed two runs over seven innings, giving up five hits and one walk while striking out two, and outside of Devers’ home run Boston only managed four singles.
Fortunately Toronto’s bullpen has been among the worst in baseball this season, and once Bassitt was gone the Red Sox made their push.
Trailing by four in the eighth, Duran skied an infield popup that the Blue Jays infield lost and allowed to fall in for what was ruled a double. Then Hamilton ripped a two-run home run to right-field, cutting the deficit in half and making it 6-4 Blue Jays. Then Devers singled and Tyler O’Neill doubled to put the tying run in scoring position, and the Blue Jays intentionally walked Rob Refsnyder to load the bases.
Following a raucous pitching change that featured a lengthy appearance by the Celtics on the big board, pinch hitter Romy Gonzalez stepped to the plate and hit the first pitch he saw from Blue Jays reliever Zach Pop for a two-run single, tying the game at 6-6.
Kenley Jansen came on and shut the Blue Jays down in the top of the ninth, getting a hand from catcher Tyler Heineman after the recent Triple-A call-up caught pinch runner Steward Berroa stealing, and from there Rafaela and Duran took care of the rest to send the fans home happy.
Following the game Cora said the win was the team’s biggest of the season, and that the crowd atmosphere was probably the best he’s seen at Fenway Park since 2021.
“Today was loud, they were locked in, they stayed all the way to the end and I think it was a great night at Fenway,” Cora said. “I know the boys had fun today.”
The Red Sox (43-36) now have a chance to clinch their fifth straight series victory, while Toronto (35-42) has now lost seven straight and is sinking deeper into the AL East abyss. Brayan Bello (7-4, 4.83) is slated to take the mound against Toronto’s Kevin Gausman (5-6, 4.24).
