ON THIS DATE (October 10, 2021) ...
Saved by a bizarre
bounce, the Red Sox beat the Rays, 6 to 4, on a walk-off two run
homer by Christian Vazquez in the 13th inning. The Rays rallied from
a 4-2 deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning. Then in the top
half of the 13th, Yandy Diaz singled with one out. Kevin Kiermaier
lined a two out shot to right, that bounced off the wall in front of
the Sox bullpen. It caromed off the hip of Hunter Renfroe and flew
back over the wall into the bullpen. Kiermaier was given a
ground-rule double and Diaz, who had scored, was sent back to third
base. Nick Pivetta struck out Mike Zunino to end the inning.
Kike Hernandez and Kyle
Schwarber led the Sox offense with three hits apiece. Following his
five hit performance in Game #2, Kike settled for three hits, one run
and two RBIs. His eighth hit in two games, an MLB record, was a home
run. The homer was his seventh consecutive hit, that broke the Sox
record of six.
Pivetta pitching on two
days rest after throwing 73 pitches in the first game, threw four
gutsy shutout innings, striking out seven, to earn the victory.
Nathan Eovaldi started and pitched five innings, overcoming a first
inning two-run homer from Austin Meadows, to retire 12 of the next 14
batters he faced.
