An air of mystery surrounds Red Sox walkoff win

BOSTON --- How we arrived here Saturday night will remain a mystery for a little while.

Did Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke call for a straight steal? A hit and run? Did Christian Vazquez take off from first base on his own?

The what ultimately matters more than the how and why. Vazquez slid into second base safely and took off for third thanks to a bounced throw into center field by Blue Jays catcher Caleb Joseph. He eventually scored the winning run on an infield single by [...]

BOSTON --- How we arrived here Saturday night will remain a mystery for a little while.

Did Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke call for a straight steal? A hit and run? Did Christian Vazquez take off from first base on his own?

The what ultimately matters more than the how and why. Vazquez slid into second base safely and took off for third thanks to a bounced throw into center field by Blue Jays catcher Caleb Joseph. He eventually scored the winning run on an infield single by Yairo Munoz.

The baseball Gods though it fitting to bestow a 9-8 walkoff victory upon Boston. And when you find yourselves in the midst of a 14-27 season, you don’t ask questions or search too hard for detailed explanations.

"Good job by (Vazquez)," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. "Sometimes I don’t like to say what things are when they happen because I don’t like the other team to know exactly what we’re doing."

Roenicke’s cryptic reply couldn’t hide his joy on what was a satisfying night for the Red Sox. They blew a 6-2 lead and left the bases loaded in the eighth. Familiar dread began to set in over an empty Fenway Park until Xander Bogaerts shocked the home dugout to life with a leadoff solo homer to the Monster Seats in the ninth.

Boston had Munoz at the plate later in the frame with one out. Vazquez had reached on a fielder’s choice and Anthony Bass was up in the count 0-and-1. Munoz swung through the next pitch from the Toronto right-hander, touching off the strange sequence of events.

"I don’t really want to say what it was," Roenicke said. "You guys can’t even ask these guys anymore."

The Red Sox clubhouse – more accurately, the suites temporarily housing the players – is off limits due to COVID-19 protocols. Vazquez wasn’t available for a Zoom interview after the game. Perhaps we’ll just chalk this result up to the oddity that is 2020 to this point.

Boston received a conventional start from Ryan Weber, who finished five innings and left in line for the victory. The Red Sox also suffered through a collapse that threatened to doom them to yet another defeat. Josh Taylor and Phillips Valdez both allowed three runs out of the bullpen, as a 6-2 cushion transformed into an 8-6 deficit.

"Good win," Roenicke said. "Good battle. I thought we did a great job offensively."

Vazquez closed with three singles and J.D. Martinez reached safely four times. Bobby Dalbec cracked the second homer of his career as part of a 2-for-4 night. The rookie had struck out in nine of his last 14 at-bats entering Saturday.

"I think I did a better job handing it than I have in the past," Dalbec said. "It was pretty tough. I just tried to stay mentally tough and grind through it.

"Those things happen. It’s not the last time something like that is going to happen. I’ve just got to get better at dealing with it and get ahead of it quicker."

Whether he knew it at the time or not, Dalbec essentially provided a mission statement for Boston entering the 2021 campaign. Toronto is the club contending for the second playoff spot in the American League East. Tampa Bay tops the division and enjoyed a 14½-game lead over the Red Sox prior to first pitch.

There have been too many nights where Boston was the team committing the error or making the head-scratching decision. This wasn’t one of them, and how exactly it happened really doesn’t matter.

bkoch@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @BillKoch25