by It seemed inevitable that Alex Bregman, a former Astro and current Red Sox player, would be the main attraction of Friday night’s game since the Houston Astros were in Boston for a three-game weekend series at Fenway Park.
Although Bregman managed to score two hits in the opening game of the set, Boston’s rookie sensation Roman Anthony stole the show.
In the tenth inning, the 21-year-old former No. 1 prospect recorded his first walk-off hit, a single to center field that scored Wilyer Abreu and ended the 1-1 deadlock.
Roman is glad to send them home!The image is cPMVmFjFrc.
Making contact was Anthony’s straightforward plan going into his sixth at-bat of the evening.
Immediately after his milestone struck, he described his attack tactic as “just trying to fight.” All I’m looking for is any opportunity to put the ball in play and score a run. Simply fighting.
Despite a somewhat quiet night in the batter’s boxes, Anthony gave his teammates credit for staying positive in his on-field chat with Apple TV+.
He asserted that we are resilient. We have a strong bunch of men. We adore one another very much. What a fantastic bunch we have. We’re very close. We simply never give up.
Anthony went on to say, “I’m just happy with how tight we are as a group.” I adore these men. Going to the stadium every day is a lot of fun. I adore this place, these supporters, and the city itself.
He suggested he might get used to walking games off in an interview with reporters following the game.
It’s incredible. It’s enjoyable. Anthony stated, “I want to do it again already” (via Tim Healey of the Boston Globes).
Anthony has a.283 batting average and an OPS of.829 since making his Boston debut on June 9. Two home runs and 14 doubles are among his 43 total hits. Additionally, Anthony has drawn 25 walks.
It was possibly his most significant knock to date.
The first of many.LS9pzLwQPJ pic.twitter.com/
Anthony and the Red Sox had an entertaining game finale, although the contest had been anything but that in the previous innings. Boston didn’t score a run until the seventh inning, when Abreu made a sacrifice fly to tie the low-scoring game, and they made three mistakes that evening, two of which were made by pitchers.
But for the Red Sox, starting pitcher Cooper Criswell pitched seven solid innings, striking out four batters and giving up just one earned run (Christian Walker’s home run in the second inning).
The bullpen shut down the game after him: Greg Weissert won the victory in the tenth inning, Aroldis Chapman did the same in the ninth, and Garrett Whitlock K d one in the eighth.
After playing its 17th extra-inning game in MLB history, Boston pulled off an incredible comeback victory. So far this season, the Red Sox have a 7-10 record in those games. The fact that it happened the day after Boston’s unimpressive trade deadline just added to its impressiveness.
Given that they were behind early in the game, the team might have been burdened by the focus surrounding chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s failure to make an impression by Thursday’s deadline. To the delight of the boisterous Fenway crowd, the squad instead collected itself late in the game and walked it off at home.
This season, the Red Sox have a 35-21 home record; they haven’t won at Fenway since 2022. Boston might be able to participate in a postseason baseball game for the first time since 2021 if they can do that and maintain a winning record for the next two months.
The Red Sox (60-51) are now four games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the top spot in the American League East after their victory on Friday. Additionally, they still control the second AL wild card place, with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners not far behind.
On Saturday, Boston will try to win Game 2 of the series against Houston. Colton Gordon will be on the mound for the Astros, while Walker Buehler will start for the Red Sox. At 4:10 p.m. Eastern Time, the first pitch will be made.
Boston.com sports producer Kaley Brown covers the Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Patriots, and Boston Red Sox.
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