For eight innings Saturday night, the Red Sox couldn’t find the hit they needed. They even loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth and somehow came away empty-handed.
Then the ninth inning happened and Boston erased a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the ninth, walking off the Giants, 3-2, in front of a frenzied crowd of 36,478 at Fenway Park. And fittingly, on a night when seemingly nothing had gone right for Wilyer Abreu, he ended up right in the middle of the celebration.
Abreu had struck out in each of his first four plate appearances, including with the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth. When the Giants intentionally walked Ceddanne Rafaela to load them again with one out in a tie game in the ninth, Abreu had one thing on his mind.
He just needed to put the bat on the ball and get it in play.
Abreu faced left-hander Sam Hentges and fell behind 1-2 before working the count full. He then got enough of a 95.9 mph sinker inside and off the plate to chop an 80.8 mph grounder down the first-base line.
Bryce Eldridge made a diving stop and fired home, but the one-hop throw pulled catcher Andrew Knizner off the plate just enough for Eli White to score.
The Red Sox poured out of the dugout and chased Abreu around the infield, eventually ripping the No. 52 jersey off his back.
Although the Giants were out of challenges, the play went to a crew-chief review. Boston didn’t bother waiting around for the verdict to begin celebrating. After a couple of minutes, the original call stood and the celebration started all over again.
Abreu had his second career walk-off, officially scored as a fielder’s choice RBI.
“I had a tough day today,” Abreu said. “I struck out four times. But at that moment, in that at-bat, I just tried to put the ball in play and forget about what happened early in the game.”
It was Boston’s fourth walk-off victory of the season and its first since a 13-inning win over the White Sox on Aug. 5. The Red Sox improved to 16-5 in their last 21 games at Fenway and own baseball’s best record since the All-Star break at 24-11.
Before Abreu finished it, the Red Sox had to put together the kind of rally that had eluded them all night.
Caleb Durbin opened the ninth by drawing a four-pitch walk from Dylan Smith. San Francisco went to Hentges, who hit pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones with his second pitch.
After Andruw Monasterio made the first out, White dropped an RBI single into shallow center to finally get Boston on the board.
Then Nick Sogard delivered his biggest hit of the night.
Sogard ripped a game-tying double off the Green Monster, sending Fenway into a frenzy and continuing what has quietly become an impressive stretch for the switch-hitter.
“That was cool,” Sogard said. “I’ve had a few at-bats kind of late in the game when the crowd’s going like that, and that’s probably the biggest hit I’ve had in one of those moments.”
During his five-game hitting streak, all from the leadoff spot, Sogard is 9-for-19 with three doubles, a home run and five walks.
The Giants intentionally walked Rafaela after Sogard’s double, setting the stage for Abreu.
It was quite the reversal from the previous inning when Mickey Gasper doubled and Sogard walked to begin the eighth before Rafaela singled to load the bases with nobody out. Smith entered throwing high-90s fastballs and somehow escaped without allowing a run.
He struck out Abreu and Willson Contreras before Adley Rutschman lined out hard to center.
The Red Sox were still within two runs in the ninth in large part because of their defense.
Durbin made another Gold Glove-caliber play in the eighth, ranging to his left and making a diving stop on Osleivis Basabe before firing to second for a force out. The play likely saved a run when Jung Hoo Lee followed with a single that put runners at the corners.
