The Rays walk off on a wild pitch, a breakdown
What Happened
The Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays are in a scoreless tie in the top of the seventh inning. The Rays' center fielder, Kevin Kiermaier, leads off the inning with a double. Kiermaier makes a great defensive play in the field, scooping up a ground ball and firing a perfect throw home to cut down a runner at the plate and preserve the tie. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the score is still 0-0. Boston reliever Matt Barnes is on the mound, facing Tampa Bay's Randy Arozarena. Arozarena laces a single to left field, giving the Rays a baserunner with two outs. Catcher Christian Vázquez tries to pick off Arozarena at first base, but his throw gets past the first baseman, allowing Arozarena to advance to third. Up next is Tampa Bay's Joey Wendle, whose brothers used to play abusive pranks on him growing up. The Red Sox intentionally walk Wendle, putting the winning run on base. On the next pitch, the ball gets away from Vázquez, allowing Arozarena to scamper home and give the Rays a walk-off victory. "Uh-oh, spaghettio," says the announcer, as Arozarena celebrates with his teammates. Arozarena tries to evade the traditional Gatorade shower, dancing around his teammates, but he ultimately gets doused. "He does not want to get wet," the announcer notes, as Arozarena allows his teammates to pour just a little bit of the liquid on his head. This thrilling finish caps off a tightly contested pitcher's duel between the division rivals. The loss is a tough one for the Red Sox, who had several defensive miscues in the late innings. But the Rays' resilience and late-game heroics secure them a dramatic walk-off victory in front of their home fans.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentit's top seven boston versus tampa bay
tampa bay doesn't have a hit yet in this
game red sox don't have much offense
going either as it's zero zero
but that's a lead off double kirmyer
corrals it
he's at second base the red sox have
things
happening hot shot to third base and
joey wendell makes the grab
because joey wendell is tough as nails
because joey wendell grew up with
abusive
brothers brothers used to take the dog's
shot collar and put it around my neck
and then like one would grab my feet and
one would grab my arms and they would
like swing me across the
underground fence line i remember one
time my brother like threw tacks in the
shower when i was taking a shower and
then turned out the lights so that i'd
like step on the tacks mostly fun stuff
like that i mean i
i would always try to get them back but
i was always smaller and weaker just
normal brother pranks making your feet
bleed in the dark shower
anyway that one's in play and this will
surely score a run kirmire with the nice
pick and scoop renfro digging for home
absolutely beautiful
perfect throw from kiermeier i mean you
got to take a look at the replay here
oh here's pavetta the red sox pitcher is
excited get down get home get home get
home get home get home
okay i guess i'll just collect myself
and get ready to go out and protect
the tie again damn was excited kiramire
a little self clap hell yeah good job by
me
love it nice pick on the little short
hop there comes up fire and it's
as perfect as a throw can get i think
he gets him on the arm because they
reviewed this and from that angle
you could think he got in there but i
think from this angle i think right
there
they're saying contact on the arm and
he's out
score stays zero zero but red sox still
have a runner on second they got the
catcher vasquez and look at the lead
he's taking
the rays are kind of in a shift but
vazquez is just dancing off the back i
don't know if they had a hit and run
going on and that's why he's going in
motion or he knows he's slow so he's
just trying to get the biggest secondary
lead he can
but he does it again on that swing and
the catcher just
tosses him out you're out vamos almost
follows
i think that's what he's saying could be
anything i don't know spanish
but i tried my hardest look at this look
at that lead he's just bolting i think
it's because
i don't know what it is maybe he thought
he could steal third because no one's
covering third maybe it was a
hit-and-run because the guy's swinging
i don't know bad bass running all around
maybe that's what it is maybe we just
chalk it up as bad base running
anyway if that flips the inning over
we're gonna go bottom of the ninth
there's two outs already
barnes is pitching and there's a
fastball up top and i don't think he's
gonna throw another fastball this count
a little glove inside that's got a sharp
break to it
but he says hey my arm my arm my arm
that's also a good pitch
but now margo's seen it should probably
go back to the fastball throws the same
pitch again
smacks it into left field now the rays
have a base runner
it's okay it's okay we'll get through
this tough as nails joey wendell's up
his brothers used to put the dog shot
collar on him and
throw him over the fence nice stop there
by catch and he's checking on the runner
and they're checking on the runner a lot
because he's just gonna steal
and an error on the throw lets him go to
third but this is kind of cool i don't
think this mattered
i don't think this mattered but it's
cool
the throw is kind of there the short hop
doesn't get made and then it
ricochets off the helmet and points way
up in the air i think he was going to
third whether it hit the helmet or not
but kind of cool that it is and they
just walk joey wendell like screw it
let's walk them they come out say like
all right let's throw some strikes
whatever you do don't throw a wild pitch
make sure this guy doesn't leave third
base nice pitch there for strike
one now he's gonna try and get the chase
swing he gets hit
it gets away from catch and that's how
the rays
win the ball game uh-oh
spaghettio three bad plays in a row by
vasquez
red sox catcher i like that hesitated
celebration there by margot like that's
the winning run everyone should be
jumping on him but he's like come on
guys come on and then they celebrate
and then he's going to see very soon
that wow has the water and he does not
want to get wet
so he recognizes him right here now he's
going to dance away he's going to dance
away
he's going to dodge again uh they're
gonna try and hold him franco's trying
to hold him and
complete miss great evasion gets the
cameraman
right in the pants he's soaking wet does
he act hurt no
plays through it grabs the pictures
margot says okay you can dump the tiny
little bit
of the rest on my head that'll actually
feel refreshing
but great job by him scooting around the
bases then using the speed to evade the
water bottle toss
as well safe at home