It is not hyperbole to suggest Hunter Renfroe salvaged the Red Sox season. To be more specific, Hunter Renfroe's hip salvaged the Red Sox' season.
What could have been (and, as some believe, should have been) a 13th-inning, run-scoring triple off the bat of Tampa Bay's Kevin Kiermaier ultimately resulted in nothing more than a ground-rule double.
The play was altered thanks to the ball hitting off the right field wall, banging against Hunter Renfroe's leg and sailing up over the fence. No run. Just runners at second and third. And when Nick Pivetta struck out Mike Zunino to end the inning, the questions started flying.
What just happened?
Well, the man who was responsible for what has turned out to be one of the most memorable plays in Red Sox history explained his side of things after what would be a Red Sox 6-4 win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
"I had no idea what pitch it was, first one the slider, middle. He hit it pretty well, and I was actually going for the catch and happened to look up, and the wall was right there," Renfroe said. "It hit the top of the wall, ricocheted off the ground, hit me in the right hip. Hopefully, thankfully, bounced over the fence, and they issued a ground-rule double."
Asked if he was aware of the rule allowing for such a play to result in a ground-rule double, Renfroe said, "Yeah. It would be the same thing if you were going down the line, hit your glove, hit the ground, and bounced over. It would be the same thing."
Another perspective came from the player running over to offer Renfroe support on the play, centerfielder Kiké Hernandez.
"Obviously, I got a great view of it," Hernandez said. "I went behind him to where my idea, my eyes were telling me that the ball was going to bounce, and if it beat him, I needed to be there to like make a strong throw to the cutoff man in case Diaz wasn't -- I don't know, we could have had a play at the plate or at third or whatever.
"When that happened, I was speechless because I don't know if you guys have seen that before. I've never seen that before in my life. I wasn't sure what was going to get called. I wasn't sure if the runners had to return. I wasn't sure if it was going to be like an errant throw where the runner would get two bags. Like I had no idea.
"Luckily, it went our way, and you call it home-field advantage if you want, call it whatever you want, but we won."
For more on the umpire's explanation of the rule, click here.
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