PHILADELPHIA — As Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo began to totally lose his command for the baseball in the fifth inning, a playoff-type crowd at Citizens Bank Park seemed to get more anxious with every pitch. A two-out walk to Marcelo Mayer loaded the bases for Rob Refsnyder, who after catcher J.T. Realmuto lost a foul pop-up that landed harmlessly, walked to force in a run. A four-pitch free pass to Jarren Duran put what was seconds earlier a 5-0 game back in reach at 5-2. As the crowd grew tense — and Luzardo tried again to find the strike zone — the Red Sox found themselves on the hunt.
Enter Romy Gonzalez.
Gonzalez fouled off a Luzardo pitch out of the zone and then took a ball before waiting on a changeup in the zone and launching it 415 feet into the left-center seats to flip a sizable deficit into a one-run Red Sox lead. In the matter of minutes — all with two outs — the Red Sox had gone from trailing 5-0 to leading 6-5. Gonzalez’s first career grand slam was a big one and paved the way for a dramatic, 9-8 win in 11 innings as the Red Sox avoided a sweep.
“It was massive,” opined starter Lucas Giolito, who allowed four homers to dig Boston’s hole. “We were able to really take advantage in that inning. Our offense just really locked in. It all happened with two outs, right? Just being able to lock in, establish the strike zone and then one really big swing from Romy just to completely shift all the momentum of the game.
“Sometimes it takes that hero moment and sometimes it takes grinding. I’d say we had that hero moment and then it was just grinding.”
The Red Sox did grind for the final six innings Wednesday, with standout bullpen performances, clutch hits and eventually, catcher Carlos Narváez winning the game with a two-run shot off Seth Johnson. But Gonzalez’s swing stood out.
Gonzalez was “tremendously locked in” during a 13-game stretch from June 22-July 9 in which he hit .409 with four homers, five doubles, two triples and a 1.315 OPS in 49 plate appearances. But he had cooled off significantly in recent days. Gonzalez, after grounding out in his first two plate appearances, was in an 0-for-20 rut with eight strikeouts. Manager Alex Cora said he was chasing pitches and whiffing too much. With a specific gameplan against Luzardo, however, Gonzalez unlocked himself.
“I’ve been getting heavy changeup out of the pitchers this series and even the Cubs series so I feel like it was the gameplan on me, attacking me with the changeup,” Gonzalez said. “I was just looking for it.
“Any time you can do it in a fashion like that and put the boys up, it’s huge. Obviously, haven’t been swinging it well out of the break.”
Gonzalez was the one who donned the Wally head after the big swing. But the patient approaches by Mayer, Refsnyder and Duran set things up for him.
“It was huge. I came out flat,” said Giolito. “No way around that. I made a lot of mistakes down the middle of the plate they put out of the park so we were down early. Huge inning to come back and take the lead.”
It’s not hyperbole to say Gonzalez’s fifth-inning swing was the biggest of the Red Sox’ season to this point. Boston considered its six game road trip to Wrigley Field and Citizens Bank Park to be a pre-deadline litmus test and largely had failed. The early deficit meant the Sox were staring down the barrel of a 1-5 trip with the Dodgers scheduled to come to Fenway on Friday. At a certain point, resiliency took over.
“The fact we were able to come back and secure the win, it’s huge for us,” said Giolito. “Overall, it wasn’t a great road trip. We lost two series, but to get that momentum of knowing we have the talent and the drive to be able to come back if we’re down or grind out wins like that, it’s huge and important for us moving forward.”
By the time the game ended after three hours and 29 minutes, Narváez had emerged as the one who won the game for his team. But Gonzalez’s role was still vital — as it often has been as he has surged to his status as one of the best hitters against left-handed pitching in the league.
“Especially playing in this ballpark, these are some of the toughest fans to play in front of,” Gonzalez said. “They’ve got such a good team over there. It definitely felt like a hero moment.”
“We compete. Obviously, going down 5-0 to a team like that, it’s not easy to come back from. This is, I don’t want to say a signature win of the season, but it feels like it. It felt like playoff baseball. Our backs were against the wall and we didn’t lay down.
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