The Red Sox' defensive struggles throughout the 2021 season have been well-documented.
That's why when you look back at the Sox' 6-2 Wild Card win over the Yankees Tuesday night at Fenway Park and realize one defensive play might have saved their season, it might lead to a double-take.
But there it was. Sixth inning. Red Sox clinging to a two-run lead with Giancarlo Stanton at the plate and Aaron Judge on base with reliever Ryan Brasier on the mound.
Boom!
A shot off the bat of Stanton that sailed toward the top of the left-center field wall at 114.9 mph, traveling 400 feet. It didn't go over the green, but it did ricochet off of it down to a waiting Kiké Hernandez.
That's when what one Red Sox official described as "an instructional video for years to come" was born.
Hernandez adeptly gathered it up, quickly fired in a one-hopper to shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who in one motion gloved the centerfielder's toss and threw a strike to catcher Kevin Plawecki. The relay arrived in plenty of time to get Judge, who had victimized by a bad decision from Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin.
The play changed everything.
Instead of the Yankees trailing by just a run with one out and Stanton standing at second, they were still in a 3-1 hole with Joey Gallo ending the threat in the next at-bat on a pop-up to third base.
"It was bang-bang, had to be two relatively perfect throws to get them out, and so yeah, you can take the chance there," Stanton said. He added, "Yeah, I was upset. That probably would have left most anywhere. So that would have, you know, that would have changed the course of the game and not for my benefit but he would have been out at home and we would have been tied. Yeah, I was pretty upset about that."
"We played defense," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "When we play defense, we're good. That kid in center field, his instincts are amazing. Doogie went for the ball, played it off the wall. He misses it, but Kiké was right there. And he made a great throw to Xander and Xander made a great throw to Plaw, and it was a great tag.
"We want to be a good defensive team. We haven't done that throughout the season. We had our hot stretches, quote/unquote, but that was a great play."
