Boston Red Sox Stun Toronto Blue Jays In Comeback

Before Thursday night, things looked like they couldn’t get any worse for the Boston Red Sox. Just a few months removed from their ninth World Series Championship, the team had floundered out to a 3-9 start, reminiscent of their infamous “chicken and beer clubhouse” year. In fact, they went one and five in their last six games.

Things didn’t look any better in their second time at home this season. In the top of the third inning, postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi got rocked for five runs. Luckily, Boston swung back with three runs courtesy of a pair of doubles and a single but that often isn’t enough when the team’s strength is supposed to be its rotation. And five earned runs didn’t justify Eovaldi’s new four year,  $67.5 million deal.

By the bottom of the seventh inning, Boston had produced two more runs and tied up the game. Of course, Freddy Galvis took a 1-0 changeup in the eighth inning and sent it 434 feet to right to break the tie for Toronto. That seems to be how Boston’s season is going so far. Luckily for Sox fans, that changed in the ninth.

Down a run and with one out, Mookie Betts worked the count for a walk. Mitch Moreland came up next, found himself in a 2-2 count, and shot a double out to center field, sending Betts home to tie up the game.

Toronto closer Ken Giles intentionally walked slugger J.D. Martinez. The reliever went to take on Xander Bogaerts and found that he’d lost his control, walking him as well. With the winning run now at third base, in the form of a pinch runner, Rafael Devers took a 2-1 pitch and sent a chopper over the head of second baseman Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Boston will hope that the game winner wasn’t just odd luck as they kick off a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.