How often does a team have two walkoff wins in one day? I'm not talking about a doubleheader, but a wee-hours walkoff in the 15th inning followed by an amazing 6-run walkoff comeback win in the 9th less than 24 hours later. After playing their longest game (by innings) of the season last night and into the midnight hour of this morning--a game that will be known as the 2-month game because it started in July and ended in August--the Red Sox were showing signs of fatigue in the early innings of tonight's game. A pair of defensive gaffes in the third, one in which Brock Holt faceplanted in the grass between third and home, lead to a Mariners run and the Sox were, as expected, having trouble scoring against Felix Hernandez. Then, Dempster, who is pitching with a groin injury, allowed sub .200, released-by-the-Blue Jays Henry Blanco to take him deep for a grand slam, breaking open the game for the M's. The Red Sox looked done for in a game where the pitching matchup was heavily in Seattle's favor.
The rally started in the 8th, with Hernandez out of the game. Charlie Furbush served up a gopher to Victorino and cut the lead to 7-2. Steven Wright, looking like the heir apparent to vintage Tim Wakefield, held the M's scoreless through the final 3 innings, making what happened in the bottom of the ninth possible. The M's had their closer, Tom Wilhelmsen in for a non-save situation and he clearly did not have his stuff tonight. Nava walked to lead off the inning. Then, Lavarnway singled and Nava advanced to second. Brock Holt doubled and Nava scored. 7-3. Ells walked. Wilhelmsen was pulled for Medina--no--Perez. Seattle's substitute skipper got confused and initially signaled for the righty Medina when he wanted to bring in the lefty Perez. The confusion only helped fuel the Mariners' bullpen meltdown as Perez promptly surrendered a base hit by Victorino that plated two more runs. 7-5. Pedey followed Victorino with another single, bringing the Sox to within a run. 7-6. Papi struck out, which might have killed the rally, but Medina came in to face the king of late inning dramatics in Jonny Gomes. Gomes didn't disappoint, singling in the tying run in Victorino. 7-7. Stephen Drew walked to load the bases for Daniel Nava. Nava comes within 2 feet of a grand slam, but settles for a walkoff single to complete what has to be the most dramatic regular season comeback since the Mother's Day Miracle in 2007. The Red Sox win 8-7.
What makes this win even more remarkable is that it followed that exhilarating, but exhausting 15-inning walkoff win, after which they could have been forgiven for lacking some energy. They found their second wind in that ninth inning and pulled off their major league-leading 11th walkoff this season. After the game, #WalkoffCity was trending on Twitter, reflecting Red Sox Nation's excitement with this year's team and just how scrappy and resilient they are.
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