BOSTON — When the Red Sox get sloppy, they tend to lose games. Or tended to, it seems.
Down 6-2 after two errors helped the Jays score five runs in a big seventh inning, the Red Sox stormed back Monday and walked it off in front of a vivacious Fenway Park crowd when Jarren Duran hit a walk-off single to plate Ceddanne Rafaela and cap off a 7-6 victory. The Sox won their 10th game in 12 tries and improved to 43-36 — a season-best seven games over .500 — with their third walk-off win of the season.
Things looked bleak when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a mammoth, three-run shot off Isaiah Campbell to put the Jays up four runs in the seventh. But the Sox, who swept the Jays at Rogers Centre last week, plated four runs of their own in the eighth and used their fast-break offense to capture the win in the ninth, when Rafaela led off by reaching on a Spencer Horwitz fielding error, took second on a Zach Pop balk and scored easily when Duran shot a single into right.
In the eighth, the resilient Red Sox put together one of their most impressive offensive frames of the season by capitalizing on a mistake the Jays made. After a Duran pop-up dropped between Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Addison Barger on the left side of the infield, David Hamilton parked his fifth homer of the season into the right-field seats to make it a two-run game. With two outs, Rafael Devers and Tyler O’Neill both singled off lefty Tim Mayza, who loaded the bases by intentionally walking Rob Refsnyder. With the bases loaded, Romy González pinch-hit for Dom Smith and came up with the big hit against righty Zach Pop — a two-run, game-tying single to bring things even at 6-6.
Early on, the Jays took the lead in the fourth when Justin Turner returned to Fenway with an RBI single to break a scoreless tie. A half-inning later, Devers answered in a big way, demolishing a 70 mph slow curveball into the right field seats for a 443-foot, two-run blast. That would mark the only damage the Sox would do against Bassitt, who also pitched well against them last week in Toronto.
Leading 2-1 in the seventh with Tanner Houck still on the mound, the Red Sox gave away free outs — and eventually paid the price. Barger led off the inning by reaching on a catcher’s interference (counting as an error), then after back-to-back outs, scored when Kevin Kiermaier tied the game and ended Houck’s night with a seeing-eye single up the middle. Campbell came in and got Kiner-Falefa to softly chop one to the right side, but David Hamilton overthrew Dom Smith at first base, extending the inning and allowing Kiermaier to reach third. A Spencer Horwitz single put the Jays up, 3-2. Guerrero’s homer — a gargantuan 471-ft. blast that left the bat at 113.1 mph — cleared the Green Monster to put Toronto up, 6-2.
Houck, facing the Jays for the second time in as many starts, took a no decision despite pitching into the seventh and allowing just three runs (two earned) while striking out seven. Jays righty Chris Bassitt largely held the Red Sox at bay, allowing five hits in seven frames.
The win marked the second time the Red Sox have overcome a four-run deficit this month, joining June 14, when they trailed the Phillies, 4-0. The Red Sox are 21-12 since May 19 and have won 18 straight games when scoring 5+ runs. Duran and Devers each had three hits, pacing the offense.
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Bello on tap for Tuesday
The Red Sox will send righty Brayan Bello (7-4, 4.83 ERA) to the mound for Tuesday night’s game opposite Jays veteran Kevin Gausman (5-6, 4.24 ERA). Bello won the battle between the righties Wednesday at Rogers Centre when he allowed just two runs while striking out six. Gausman allowed five runs (four earned) in 5 ⅔ innings in a 7-3 Red Sox win.
The Red Sox are 11-6 against Toronto since the start of 2023.
