It was a great baseball game. It was an important baseball game. And, for the Red Sox, it was an extremely satisfying baseball game.
Adam Duvall hits a three-run homer to give the Red Sox the lead for good in the sixth inning of what ultimately would be a much-needed 8-5 win over the Dodgers Saturday at Fenway Park.
It was all a reminder of how good it can be for these Red Sox, who managed to still sit 3 1/2 games out of the final Wild Card spot.
But it also offered a slap in the face regarding exactly how excruciating these final few weeks promise to be. With this team, where they are at, there won't be a lot of room for error, as the final at-bat game showed.
With the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth - and Red Sox reliever John Schreiber clinging to his team's lead - the potential go-ahead run stepped into the batter's box. That guy just happened to Mookie Betts.
Just to cap on the excitement and anxiety, Betts rifled a drive 383 feet into center field at a velocity of 101.4 mph. The blast had an expected batting average of .580, with many of those in attendance putting those numbers at 1.000. But not the day's hero, Duvall, who glided back to offer the Red Sox their latest collective sigh of relief.
“I thought that I was going to be able to get under it because that's a big part of the park right there,” Duvall said. “I can imagine in the stands, that probably everybody wasn't so sure. But you know, he hit it well. I just had a beat on it."
All of this came after Alex Cora was forced to bob and weave his way through the nail-biter, having to piece together the innings after James Paxton's less-than-inspiring, 4 1/3-inning, four-run, five-walk outing.
All the high-leverage guys were called into action (with the exception of the injured Kenley Jansen), starting with Josh Winckowski immediately after Paxton. He was followed by Brennan Bernandino, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Martin and, finally Schreiber. And, just for good measure, at one point Cora was forced to lose the designated hitter because of the lineup shuffling, with designated hitter Trevor Story going to shortstop after an elbow injury to Pablo Reyes.
All of it reeked of anticipation and desperation. Welcome to the Red Sox' current lot in life.
“It was loud and it felt like from the sixth inning on, every pitch mattered,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “And they were into it. So, it’s been great. It’s a great venue. Fenway. The afternoon. White unis. Grey unis. Kind of old-school stuff. I’m glad we got the ‘W.'”
“We’re considering this like playoff baseball,” said Verdugo, who became the third player in MLB history to leadoff his team's first-inning with a home run in three straight games. “Every game matters right now, especially down the stretch, and we know we’ve got some games to catch up to put us in a spot to get to [the] playoffs. It's just easy when you think of it that way. Every game is a must win. We’ve just got to handle our business.”
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