With Friday’s 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins, the Boston Red Sox have now won five games in their Green Monster City Connect uniforms this year. Incredibly, all five wins have been walk-offs, accounting for half of their 10 such victories this season.
The first was on May 24 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox overcame a 5-2 deficit to win in 10 innings on Rafael Devers’ game-winning single.
The last four have all come on Fridays. There was June 13 against the New York Yankees (also in 10 innings), Ceddanne Rafaela’s epic blast versus the Tampa Bay Rays on July 11, Roman Anthony’s first career walk-off hit against the Houston Astros on Aug. 1, and Trevor Story’s game-winning single on Aug. 15 against the Marlins.
Story’s clutch hit capped a tense pitching duel between Boston and Miami. Lucas Giolito and Sandy Alcántara both yielded just one run while going at least six innings, leaving the game in the hands of the bullpens.
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The Red Sox got 2 2/3 scoreless innings from Justin Wilson, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman, giving their bats a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth.
Josh Simpson was brought in to face the top of Boston’s order and promptly imploded. He walked Anthony and Alex Bregman to start the inning, then plunked Jarren Duran to load the bases with nobody out.
That set the stage for Story, who singled off Calvin Faucher through a drawn-in infield to win the series opener on his second hit of the night.
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The Red Sox managed just three hits, but two of them drove in runs, and that was enough in a contest dominated by pitching.
Boston improved to 40-22 at home with the win and 67-56 overall. The Red Sox will try to win again on Saturday behind Brayan Bello (8-6, 3.25 ERA), who will be opposed by Cal Quantrill (4-9, 5.09 ERA).
