Moreno's Grand Slam Shook Boston, Then Boston Shook It Off
Gabriel Moreno hit a 428-foot grand slam to center in the third inning that flipped a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 Arizona lead — the single biggest momentum swing of the night. Boston answered immediately and never looked back, rolling to a 9-4 final.
Boston came out swinging in the first. Adley Rutschman singled to right, scoring two runs, and a sacrifice fly made it 3-0 before Arizona had done anything. It looked like a comfortable night setting up nicely — until the third inning arrived and Moreno made it very uncomfortable. His grand slam to center, 428 feet, cleared the bases and put Arizona up 4-3, swinging Boston's win probability from 85% all the way down to 56%. That's a 29-point swing on a single swing of the bat. For a moment, this game had a completely different feel.
Boston's response in that same third inning is the story of the night. Rutschman immediately answered with a 401-foot homer to right to tie it at 4-4, and then Arizona's pitcher threw two wild pitches — both scoring Durbin — to hand Boston a 5-4 lead without the Red Sox even putting the ball in play. The game's tension evaporated right there. What looked like a potential Arizona takeover turned into a gift-wrapped lead change. Looks like the Diamondbacks' pitching staff simply couldn't hold the moment after Moreno gave them one.
From the fifth inning on, Boston methodically extended the lead. Andruw Monasterio singled home Contreras in the fifth to make it 6-4. Mickey Gasper — who finished 2-for-2 with a homer and 2 RBI — crushed a 414-foot shot to center in the sixth to push it to 7-4, and Contreras added another run on an infield single in the same frame. Gasper capped the scoring in the seventh with a single to left that scored Duran, setting the final at 9-4. Rutschman went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI. Contreras went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Nick Sogard crossed the plate twice. This appears to have been a complete offensive effort — no one player carried it, which makes it harder to game-plan against. Ranger Suarez gave up all four Arizona runs in 5.1 innings, but the bullpen — Tyron Guerrero, Erik Miller, and Wyatt Olds — combined for 3.2 scoreless innings to close it out cleanly. Boston wins, 9-4.