TORONTO — Brayan Bello clapped his hands and let out a holler as he watched the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners on the televisions in the Boston Red Sox visitors clubhouse after the game Tuesday night.
A Seattle loss was a good thing for the Red Sox. With four games left in the regular season, the Red Sox’s razor-thin playoff hopes are somehow still alive, thanks to a hard-fought, 6-5 victory in 10 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays.
It marked Boston’s fourth win in a row, a feat they haven’t accomplished since winning five in a row from June 30-July 5.
“It was just fun,” manager Alex Cora said. “We put ourselves in this position, and obviously it’s not a perfect one, but for us, it’s just go out there and try to make it count. The boys did an amazing job fighting all the way to the end. We used everybody, and it was one of the most gratifying wins since I’ve been here.”
It’s a seemingly impossible task as the Red Sox sit 3 1/2 games back of the third American League Wild Card spot. Detroit and Kansas City are tied for the second spot, while Minnesota sits two games back and Seattle 2 1/2 back.
“We don’t back down from a fight, we’re just gonna keep our head down to push and see what happens,” Vaughn Grissom said.
Facing a 3-0 deficit in the seventh, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run double with the bases loaded to make it 3-2. The following inning, after Romy González and Triston Casas singled, Masataka Yoshida grounded out to tie the game at 3-3, and the score remained knotted up for two more innings.
Cora maneuvered through his bullpen using seven relievers after Bello managed just four innings, allowing two runs. Cora emptied the bench with pinch hitters and pinch runners left and right, subbing into the late innings. In all, Cora used 22 of 28 players on the roster with relievers Josh Winckowski and Greg Weissert down and starters Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford and Richard Fitts the only others not used in the game.
“The way we did it,” Cora said. “Grinding and fighting, in the dugout, the guys that pitched and the guys that ended up playing that game, I’m telling you, man, it was a lot of anxiety and we were very nervous, but we pulled it out.”
In the 10th, Trevor Story’s double scored Jarren Duran for the go-ahead run before a Connor Wong ground out scored pinch-runner Mickey Gasper and Grissom added insurance with a single to score Story. The Red Sox needed every one of those runs as Toronto put two up on Zach Penrod and Chase Shugart in the bottom of the 10th, before closing it out.
For the lead ‼️ pic.twitter.com/vlCNrgRA12
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 25, 2024
The Red Sox are without Rafael Devers and Kenley Jansen, two of their most high-profile players, but a scrappy team that’s shown fight all year is somehow still in the race in the twilight hours of the season. Part of that is because teams around them haven’t pulled away, but part of it is because the Red Sox have shown an uncanny resilience this year.
Cora may be trying to manifest a miracle over the final few games, but either way, his team was fired up post-game with music blaring and players locked in on the late games.
“It’s just a testament to who we are as a group that we’re never out of a fight,” Grissom said. “That’s what you need. The best teams are never out of a fight. That’s huge.”
Bello outing was short, leading to the Red Sox needing to use every available pitcher, but it still marked his 30th start of the season, a career high. On Monday, Tanner Houck notched his 31st start and on Sunday Kutter Crawford made in his 32nd start.
For an organization long bereft of homegrown starting pitching, it marked a major milestone. It’s been 37 years since the last time the Red Sox had three homegrown starters make at least 30 starts, with Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst and Al Nipper achieving the collective feat in 1987.
Bello has had an uneven season, though he has turned things around in the second half with a 3.66 ERA since the start of June.
Asked about the Red Sox minuscule postseason chances, Bello reserved hope.
“It would be amazing, it would be great if we make it,” he said through a team translator. “It would be the first playoffs in my career, so obviously we’re pushing for the teams ahead of us to lose and we’ll see what happens.”
The Red Sox have been written off too many times to count through 158 games, but with four left in the regular season, there is indeed, still a chance.
(Photo: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
