BOSTON -- Sometimes, even in the middle of June, a win is more than just a win. Take the Boston Red Sox's 8-7, extra-inning victory Thursday against the Chicago White Sox as an example. Boston was a couple of tightrope-walking exercises from relievers and a soft line drive from Xander Bogaerts away from another loss, a four-game sweep at home and a 3-7 homestand.
Instead, it was a walk-off win to cap an ugly series loss and 4-6 stretch at Fenway Park -- only marginally better than the alternative on paper, but a world better when it comes to intangibles like mood and momentum. It's a lot easier to jump on a plane to Texas for three and a half hours and wake up Friday with another day of work ahead, the first of six in a row on the road, given the nature of this win.
"We had to battle back a bunch of times. You look at who was on the field and what position, we had to scramble," Red Sox manager John Farrell said in reference to a beat-up corner infielder in left field, a career minor league outfielder batting behind David Ortiz and the onetime No. 4 catcher pinch hitting in the sixth inning. "You do what you can with what you have in the moment.
"We get down 4-1, we find a way to fight back into it, tie it back up, take the lead, we give it back on the three-run homer to [Jose] Abreu, and then [missing out on] multiple opportunities -- even in the late innings before the 10th inning. So we kept battling, kept digging, kept finding a way to push a run across."
Got all that? The game was poorly played on both sides, full of too much bad pitching and too little situational hitting. The teams went a combined 8-for-29 with runners in scoring position and left 22 runners on base. They made three errors. Four times -- two for each side -- the bases were loaded with nobody out. Only once did a team score multiple times. The other instances, they either failed to score or managed to plate just one run.
One of those was the top of the eighth, when Heath Hembree worked into and out of the jam to escape with a scoreless inning. The signature sequence came with two outs. Adam Eaton, a left-handed hitter, came to the plate with a chance to do damage against Hembree, who allowed lefties to hit .475/.523/.700 off of him entering the day.
Hembree got Eaton to roll over on a low, full-count fastball. Inning over.
"Quality strikes in a key moment -- and against a good hitter," Farrell said. "That might be a breakthrough moment for Heath. Bases loaded, really no other place to go, threw some pitches in some different locations than [other times] against lefties."
Craig Kimbrel, in his second inning of work, did the same in the 10th. He got Eaton to swing through a curveball to end the inning.
That set the stage for Bogaerts, who with two on and one out in the bottom of the 10th -- and light-hitting utility infielder Deven Marrero on deck -- didn't think he'd get anything to hit. Then he found himself down in the count, 1-2.
"I was pretty much not in good shape right there," Bogaerts said.
White Sox reliever Matt Purke, in his ninth big league game, gave Bogaerts a second fastball in the same location as the first, low and away. Bogaerts put it into center field to score Mookie Betts from second. The Red Sox mobbed Bogaerts. One of them ripped his jersey off.
Were the Red Sox desperate for a win?
"For sure," Bogaerts said. "Definitely. We all were."
Added Farrell: "We all sense that."
Pregame -- and in-game -- desperation gave way to equal parts excitement and relief. For all that went wrong for the Red Sox, from failing to beat up on a recently struggling James Shields to the bullpen coughing up another lead to Jackie Bradley Jr.'s misguided and failed bunt, they won.
That was a note struck by many in the clubhouse.
Rick Porcello: "It was big for us to come out with one of these and head on the road on a good note."
Travis Shaw: "That would've been a bad loss, but we found a way to get it done."
Hembree: "It lets us take a little bit of a breath going into the road trip."
Kimbrel: "We needed to win. ... We're definitely going to have a happy flight."
