Boston Red Sox
“We’ve been watching from afar for a while, just supporting the boys, just thinking about the time that we can get back on the field and contribute.”
Ahead of his first game with the Red Sox since mid-May, shortstop Trevor Story opted to temper expectations on Sunday about the impact both he and Roman Anthony would provide after both missed most of the 2026 season due to injury.
“It’s not like heroes are coming back,” Story said prior to his return to Boston’s lineup on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, per MLB.com. “We’re not looking at it that way. These guys have put in the work and done the things and performed on the field to get us to where we’re at, and we’re just coming in to help that.”
Boston’s scorching second-half surge might have been sparked when both Story and Anthony were on the mend.
But as evidenced by Monday’s dramatic matchup against the Mariners, a Red Sox lineup in need of a lift is in far better hands when both Anthony and Story are present and accounted for.
Both Story and Anthony provided the heroics for the Red Sox on Monday against Seattle, helping Boston overcome a three-run deficit in the eighth inning en route to an eventual 9-8 victory in 10 innings.
Story — playing in his first game at Fenway since May 14 after undergoing sports hernia surgery — sent over 37,000 fans home happy. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, Story smacked a pitch into center field for a walk-off single, capping off a resurgent night at the plate for the veteran infielder.
Fresh off collecting two hits in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Yankees, Story carried that momentum into Monday’s game with a 2-for-5 showing, including a double and three RBIs.
That extra-base hit came in the eighth inning, with a wall ball off the Green Monster plating two runs and turning an 8-5 Seattle lead into a one-run deficit for Boston entering the ninth inning.
“It means a lot,” Story told MLB.com of his strong return to Fenway. “We’ve been watching from afar for a while, just supporting the boys, just thinking about the time that we can get back on the field and contribute. We would talk about it a lot and just be thinking kind of forward to that, and here we are. It’s very fun.”
It was Anthony — now 4-for-8 with three extra-base hits since his own return after missing 100 games due to a wrist/hand injury — who forced extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, Anthony led off the final frame of regulation by rifling an offering from Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz into center field — with Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez misplaying the ball and letting it skid all the way out to the warning track en route to a triple.
“I couldn’t really feel my legs,” Anthony told MLB.com. “It’s been a while since I played baseball in that atmosphere and done something like that. So it was amazing. It was good to feel, and even better that we got the job done. So, it was electric.”
Anthony eventually scored the game-tying run off a sac fly from Ceddanne Rafaela — swiping his hand just over home plate and evading a tag from Seattle’s Cal Raleigh to force extra innings.
After a scoreless top of the 10th inning from Aroldis Chapman, Story got Boston back in the win column after a disheartening four-game series in New York with his walk-off hit in the bottom of the frame.
It was just the get-right game that both the Red Sox and Story — who has been the target of plenty of criticism after a poor rehab stint in Triple-A Worcester — desperately needed as Boston rounds the final stretch of the regular season.
“He’s unbelievable. Getting to go through this process with him, I was so happy for him,” Anthony said of Story. “Every at-bat, he just continues to look better and better, and then to trust himself through all the [outside] noise, he’s just a true veteran. He’s the same guy every day, good or bad. And to see him do that, it was unbelievable.”
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