Duran Walks It Off as Boston Survives Abreu's Nightmare Night
Jarren Duran singled to right in the tenth inning to score Yoshida and give Boston a 5-4 walk-off win over New York on June 28. The game's defining subplot was Boston right fielder Abreu committing two throwing errors in the tenth — handing New York a 4-2 lead before his own team clawed back to steal it.
Sonny Gray was the best pitcher on the field by a wide margin and it wasn't particularly close. He went 7.1 innings, allowing just 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, and striking out 9. Carlos Rodon matched the zero in the earned-run column over 5.0 innings for New York, but walked four batters to Gray's one — a gap that looks like it mattered when the game unraveled in extras. Boston broke through first in the fourth: Caleb Durbin singled to center, scoring two runs to put Boston up 2-0. That lead held all the way through eight innings of combined near-perfect pitching.
New York stormed back in the ninth. A Rice flyout turned into a run when Abreu's throwing error allowed Caballero to score and Volpe to reach third. Goldschmidt then grounded into a fielder's choice that plated Volpe, and just like that it was 2-2. The tenth inning opened with New York seizing control — Amed Rosario singled to right, Schuemann scored on an error, and Abreu's second throwing error of the inning put Rosario at second. That play swung Boston's win probability from 53% to 24%, a 29-point collapse in a single at-bat. Wells then grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Rosario — Boston challenged the call, it was upheld — and New York led 4-2. The game appeared to be over.
It wasn't. Boston answered immediately in the bottom of the tenth. Anthony Seigler singled to right to score Durbin and make it 4-3. Cheng followed with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Monasterio and tying the game at 4. Then Duran ended it — a single to right, Yoshida scored, ballgame. The story of the night was Abreu's right field: two throwing errors in the tenth inning, one that gave New York the lead and one that set the table for Boston's comeback. New York's bullpen — Paul Blackburn and David Bednar combined for 4.0 scoreless innings on 2 hits — did everything asked of them. It wasn't enough. Boston turned a two-run deficit in extras into a walk-off win in the span of one half-inning, and that's the kind of game that looks like it'll stick with both clubs for a while.