Less than two weeks after getting seven stitches in his leg, Xander Bogaerts used every bit of his speed to win a key divisional game for the Red Sox on Friday night.
After Tanner Houck blew the save in the ninth inning and the Sox performed some magic tricks to extend the game to the 11th, Bogaerts started the inning as the ghost runner on second and then ran his way home for the eventual game-winning run in the Sox’ 5-4 victory over the Yankees.
On a deep fly ball to left, Bogaerts adeptly tagged up from second to third, using a head-first slide to avoid the throw and move 90 feet from home. Two batters later, with two outs, Yankees right-hander Michael King skipped a pitch off his catcher’s face mask and Bogaerts made a daring dash for home, sliding past Jose Trevino as the go-ahead run.
