BOSTON — After winning on a walk-off hit for a 4-3 win, the Red Sox would have been in a celebratory mood regardless of what the out-of-town scores showed on Saturday.
But before Alex Verdugo had sent the Fenway Park crowd home happy, the Orioles and Blue Jays had already given Boston some outside help.
The Orioles broke a 3-3 tie with a run against Aroldis Chapman in the ninth to beat New York, 4-3, allowing the Red Sox, at 79-59, to move within a half-game of the Yankees (78-57).
The suddenly fading Oakland A’s scored five times in the top of the ninth but couldn’t climb out of an early hole and fell to the Blue Jays, 10-8, to drop to 4.0 games behind Boston for the second wild-card spot.
Despite missing a large chunk of their roster on the COVID-19 related injured list, the Red Sox are surging with four straight wins. Alex Cora hoped the gradual returns of the absent players would further fortify the team and add to the momentum.
“It’s September 4th. We know where we are in the standings. We gained some ground today on two teams,” he said. “We know we’re going to get our guys at some point. But they’re not here and we’re trusting these guys.”
Verdugo, whose game-winning single sparked the celebration, said the team has shown its character this week.
“We have a lot of guys that are down right now on the COVID-IL but the guys that are filling their spots, they’ve been stepping up,” he said. “We could have easily folded and said ‘We don’t have our guys, or our bullpen.’ Instead, we go out and compete. We split the series against the Rays and end up taking the first two here.”
SMALL BALL — Cora bunted three times with the bottom of his order, twice with Jonathan Araúz and once with Jack Lopez as the Red Sox attempted to manufacture some runs while some of their key players are out.
“We can’t just sit back and let the boys do their thing. We have to put pressure on the defense and we have to maximize the top of the order,” he said. “We’ve bunted five of six times in the past couple of days. That’s part of who we are right now.”
ROBLES NOT BADLY INJURED — Hansel Robles took a hard shot in the left leg at the end of the sixth inning and limped off the mound. Cora said the reliever avoided anything serious.
“Robles should be O.K. but he got hit hard,” Cora said.
OTTAVINO STREAK SNAPPED — Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino hadn’t given up a home run to any of the 238 batters he faced this season before pinch-hitter Franmil Reyes hit a two-run shot to tie the game in the ninth. Ottavino was the winning pitcher for the second straight night as he improved to 5-3.
TAYLOR MOTTER DEBUTS — Taylor Motter, who was activated Saturday after being claimed on waivers, has a game-winning run on his Red Sox resumé before holding a bat or a glove for them in a game. Motter entered the game in the ninth as a pinch-runner for Travis Shaw and jogged home from third on Verdugo’s game-winning hit.
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