Travis Shaw’s go-ahead hit, Josh Taylor’s first career save lift Red Sox to gritty win over White Sox

The circumstances were far from ideal for the Red Sox on Saturday night. J.D. Martinez was another late scratch from the lineup. And in the midst of their COVID-19 outbreak, in the thick of a playoff race, they were forced to start Connor Seabold for his major-league debut against the first-place White Sox in Chicago.

On paper, it’s a game they weren’t likely to win. And yet, they pulled it off for one of their gutsiest victories of the season.

Behind some unlikely sources, the Red Sox proved resilient again. Travis Shaw, not even in the lineup until an hour before first pitch, came up with two huge hits — including the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th — and Josh Taylor slammed the door to earn his first career save as the Red Sox held on for a huge 9-8 win over the White Sox.

The Red Sox watched their early 7-2 lead disappear in one ugly fourth inning before the White Sox took the lead. But despite their continued COVID-19 outbreak and sudden absences, they haven’t faded. Saturday was the latest example.

“Regardless of what’s going on here, they’re going to keep bringing it and they’re going to keep playing,” manager Alex Cora said. “That’s the bottom line. The last three baseball games have been great as far as showing up and doing everything possible to try to win a game regardless of the results. That was a good one.

“That clubhouse is loud today, the dugout was loud early, very quiet halfway through it and they kept grinding after that. Like I always say, it’s a big league win and one less day on the calendar and we added a win, which is great.”

Saturday’s triumph certainly didn’t come easy. They built a 7-2 lead thanks to a seven-run third inning against White Sox starter Dylan Cease, highlighted by Shaw’s three-run blast to right. But it disappeared in the fourth, when an ugly error from Rafael Devers led to a game-tying, five-run inning for the White Sox, who took an 8-7 lead in the fifth when Yasmani Grandal took Ryan Brasier deep.

But the Red Sox battled back. They played much better defense towards the end of the game — including an incredible diving play from Xander Bogaerts in the ninth — and strong pitching from Garrett Whitlock kept them in it to force extras. Shaw came up big again with an RBI single to right to score Alex Verdugo from third.

It’s all they ultimately needed. In the 10th, Cora turned to Taylor, who gave up a leadoff single to put runners on first and third with no outs. But the lefty buckled down and retired the next three batters he faced to clinch the victory. When the final out was made, the typically fiery Taylor let out an emotional scream.

“It was exhilarating, to say the least,” Taylor said. “It was awesome. You get put in those situations and you get that extra tick you didn’t think you had. I just felt like I was able to make my pitches tonight.”

He struck out Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick before inducing Brian Goodwin into a grounder to second, where Kiké Hernandez ranged to his left to make a nice play and Bobby Dalbec made an impressive game-ending pick.

After they lost the lead largely because of a bad defensive error, a Red Sox team that’s been inconsistent in the field all year could be credited with giving them a chance to win. Dalbec, Bogaerts, Verdugo and even Devers made a series of impressive plays on Saturday.

“When we play defense, we become a really good team,” Cora said. “In the second part of the game we played great defense. … That’s something we can do.”

The Red Sox (81-63) can earn a critical series victory on Sunday afternoon as they continue to hold on to a slim lead at the top of the stacked wild card standings. At the close of Saturday’s schedule, the Red Sox still held the first wild card spot, leading the Blue Jays and Yankees by a game and the Mariners and A’s by two games.

Their wild card lead is even more impressive given the blows they’ve been dealt over the last two weeks. They’re now 8-7 since the outbreak began on Aug. 27 and still in a playoff spot with 18 games to go.

“Honestly, I think we deserve huge credit,” Shaw said. “We’ve lost a lot of guys to COVID here in the last two weeks. I think the number’s up to 12 maybe, 12 or 13. That’s players, that’s not even counting the staff. I think guys have stepped up. Guys are getting opportunities to step in and even guys we’re calling up from Triple-A have come up and played a role here and done a lot of good things here in the last two weeks.

“We’ve kind of been up and down a little bit some nights as a team, but overall, given what we’ve gone through the last two weeks, I think everybody can say that we’re doing the best that we can and it definitely could be much worse.”