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OK, time to fess up, Red Sox Nation. How many of you went to bed after the Red Sox failed to score in the bottom of the eighth inning?
Come on, tell the truth! Even the most loyal fans of
The Carmine Hose could be forgiven if they resigned themselves to bedtime—with the knowledge of "only" taking 3 of 4 from
The Evil Ones, still a good week-end's work. But, oh, this is not your average Red Sox squad. Down by three runs in the ninth against uber-closer
Aroldis Chapman, Boston plated the tying runs—on a two-out, two-run rope single by
J.D. Martinez and a "leg-it-out" ground ball by
Xander Bogaerts. In the tenth, the honor fell to
new 'Yankee-Killer' Andrew Benintendi (3-6, RBI)—who smacked a game-winning "ten-hopper" up the middle to put a capper on one of the best comebacks in Red Sox history.
David Price—while not getting credit for the win—was more than effective over 6+ innings, giving up just two earned runs. Boston grabbed the lead in the fifth on a solo Monster blast by
Mookie Betts (his 26th), but
The Empire struck back with four in the top of the seventh. Then,
The Magic happened.
Again. The
5-4 extra-inning win put Boston's margin in the AL East at 9.5 games over
The Pinstriped Posers.
