Rallying Red Sox do it again with walk-off
BOSTON -- Another night, another Fenway thriller.
The constantly comebacking Red Sox did it again on Friday night, riding a walk-off single off the Monster by Alex Verdugo in the bottom of the ninth to a wild 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays.
Fresh off one of the most entertaining and exhausting wins at Fenway Park in recent memory on Thursday -- 12-8 over the Astros -- it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Boston experience a letdown a day later.
Instead, the Sox didn’t let up -- even when they trailed 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
The Fenway faithful of 25,257 didn’t let up either, as the team and the crowd felt like they were feeding off each other for a second straight night. The comeback from four runs down was the biggest of the season for the Red Sox.
“Take advantage of Fenway,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Today was one of those days that, yeah, we were behind, but it never felt like it was out of hand. We were a few at-bats away from doing a few things. Today, Fenway was electric. It’s another great Friday night at Fenway. It was fun.”
This latest comeback win -- the MLB-leading 23rd by the Red Sox -- was made possible by a three-run rally in the sixth that cut a 5-1 deficit to 5-4.
“That sixth inning when we were rolling and putting up runs, every single pitch my ears were ringing. That stuff is awesome,” said emerging key contributor Christian Arroyo.
And the comeback was made even more possible by the latest game-tying moonshot by Arroyo, this one soaring over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street with one out in the bottom of the eighth.
“In the first pitch [of the at-bat], he jumped out [of the box] there,” said Cora. “I’m right next to Bobby [Dalbec] and I’m just like, ‘Just control your emotions. Don’t get caught up in the whole thing.’ And then he tracked a fastball back and he put a good swing on it, and this place went nuts.”
It was a comeback that didn’t center on one or two players, but an entire lineup, especially when the Sox batted around in that sixth.
“I think it’s just that we just believe in our entire lineup. I know it’s cliché to say because everyone believes in their team, but I truly believe in every single game, for the most part, we’re in every game,” said Arroyo. “That 5-1 [deficit] there, yeah, we felt like we were down in the dugout, but we just wanted to put guys on base and make things happen.
“Keep the line moving like we’ve been saying since Day 1 and in Spring Training. Once we keep the line moving and we’re able to take our walks and take our base hits the other way, and not try to do too much, good things happen.”
When it looked like the latest comeback might go for naught when Garrett Whitlock got into a jam in the top of the ninth (first and third, one out, then bases loaded and two outs), the nerveless rookie got himself right out of it and wound up earning the win.
Then, the Red Sox took care of business with some help from the Jays in the bottom of the frame.
The winning rally started when Bo Bichette made a throwing error to first on a routine grounder by Kiké Hernández. But to steal a tennis term, it wasn’t an unforced error.
Hernández busted it out of the box, and Bichette hurried his throw, which went wide to the right and Hernández motored into second as Fenway roared again with anticipation.
“Big props for Kiké running down the line and forcing Bo Bichette to have to speed,” said Verdugo. “That caused the error that got him to second and that’s how we do it.”
Then it came down to Verdugo, who was behind in the count 1-2 before smashing a 93.7-mph sinker from Rafael Dolis off the wall for his third hit of the game. Pinch-runner Danny Santana scored easily from second, setting off a walk-off pile of excitement.
“It was amazing, something special for sure,” said Verdugo. “One of those things, when you’re at the box, you try your best to calm down and take deep breaths, relax, whatever. When you have 25, 30,000 people screaming and yelling and jumping up and down, it’s a little hard to kind of get that tunnel vision.
“But at the same time it’s amazing because your heart starts racing, everything feels good. What was sore before isn’t sore at that moment, and you’re just kind of locked in. It was very special, very fun and to top this off and get the ‘W, it was huge.”