If the Red Sox wear their 'Fenway Greens' uniforms, the expectation is that they will punctuate that Friday night at their home ballpark with a walk-off win. Prior to the latest go-round in the alternate uniforms, there had been six wins, all of them ending in the game's final at-bat.
But, as we have learned too many times this season, when it comes to the Red Sox, things don't always go as planned.
But, maybe because of the symbiotic nature brought on by the green uniforms, life lined up perfectly for Alex Cora's club in what would be a 1-0, 10-inning win over the Tigers.
The blueprint that was built on run prevention unfolded just as the Red Sox drew up, in large part because of two players who a few weeks ago seemed like the epitome of this team's square-peg-round-hole existence, Ranger Suarez and Masa Yoshida.
Suarez put on a kind of display that made observers start to believe he was more than a $130 million luxury item. The lefty cruised through his eight shutout innings, retiring 22 of 23 batters after a pair of first-inning singles.
Suarez has now completed back-to-back starts of six innings or more for the fifth time in his career. His nine such occasions are the third-most since 2025, only behind Tarik Skubal and Jose Soriano.
This was exactly what the Red Sox were selling after the Suarez signing became the answer to missing out on Alex Bregman. They insisted the impact would be undeniable, and on Friday night, that was hard to argue with.
"I’ve been saying for three weeks that if we pitch, we’re going to win," Cora said.
Then there was Yoshida, another big-contract guy who hadn't quite seemed like too big a part of the solution.
Heading into the 10th inning, Yoshida once again hadn't gotten the start, getting caught in the team's somewhat convoluted outfield rotation. He had produced when playing, even with the team going 1-10 in games the outfielder had appeared in. But, still, more times than not the team had deferred to the combination of Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela.
There was a promise of him serving a purpose. Friday night, the promise was fulfilled.
Pinch-hitting for Caleb Durbin with one out in the 10th and runners on first and third, Yoshida hit a high-hopper grounder over Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson to score Duran. It was one of Yoshida's most memorable moments in his four seasons with the Red Sox, representing the lefty hitter's first walk-off hit.
"I think I just got lucky," said Yoshida through interpreter Yutaro Yamaguchi. "It bounced pretty high, so I was hoping it was gonna go through."
"I know it’s not easy, but having that guy on the bench or having Roman on the bench or Jarren in situations like that, you have to pick your poison on the other side," explained Cora. "They’re good hitters, all of them. We’re going to use them the way we want to use them.
"He’s just a professional and in these situations, I know how it feels. You want to play. Let’s be honest. Masa was one of the best in Japan. We got him for a reason here. He has been banged up, and now all of the sudden this is how we’re gonna play the game with this roster. We’re gonna maximize it."
With the win, the Red Sox are finally out of last place in the American League East, sitting one game up on the struggling Blue Jays and just two behind the first-place Rays. Now they can truly punctuate any about-face, facing off with last year's American League Cy Young winner Skubal in the series' second game.
There is a way to go, but thanks to another late-night Friday Fenway celebration, there were hints that better times are around the corner.
