BOSTON — Christian Vazquez received a warm ovation Tuesday in his first game back to Fenway, his former home park. But the fans who applauded had no idea of the gift the longtime Red Sox catcher would inadvertently provide them.
A catcher's interference penalty that the Red Sox declined — yes, just like in football — turned into the game-tying run, and a third strike that skipped underneath Vazquez sparked Boston's three-run, 10th-inning rally. The result was Minnesota's third straight loss, 5-4 in a ballpark that seems to inspire the bizarre every time the Twins are here.
Alex Verdugo hit a fly ball that bounced off the padding just beyond the right-field foul pole, a fair ball that drove in Reece McGuire with the game-winning run in Boston's strange-then-stranger 5-4 victory. The hit capped a three-run 10th for the Red Sox, an outburst ignited when Jovani Moran's third strike to leadoff hitter Kiké Hernández skipped in the dirt and to the backstop, allowing him to reach base.
Back-to-back singles tied the game and set up Verdugo's hugging-the-line drive for the win.
But none of that could overshadow the strange eighth-inning mistakes that forced extra innings.
With one out in the inning and Red Sox second baseman Hernández on first base, pinch-hitter Reese McGuire clipped the tip of Vazquez's glove as he swung at a 2-2 pitch. The ball dribbled to third baseman Jose Miranda, who charged in, fielded the ball and threw it to Donovan Solano at first base.
Solano, seeing that umpire Jordan Baker had called interference, moved off first base to avoid colliding with McGuire, who tagged the bag safely. Hernández, meanwhile, rounded second base and, seeing third base unguarded, kept on running and took the extra base.
Normally when catcher's interference occurs, play stops and the batter and each runner are awarded one base. But under MLB rule 5.05 (b), the Red Sox declined the interference and accepted the result of the play — McGuire safe at first and Hernández at third.
The gaffe allowed Hernández, when Jarren Duran followed with a ground ball to second, to head home. Nick Gordon's throw may have beaten him to the plate, but Vazquez dropped the throw, allowing the tying run to score.
The late-inning strangeness changed the complexion of a game that had already seemed a little bizarre. After all, there are probably players less likely to deface a vintage Chris Sale performance than Sonny-Gray-in-Fenway and Max-Kepler-in-2023, but those two would definitely be members of Team Implausible.
Yet here they were on Tuesday, Gray — who has never won in Fenway Park, his worst stadium in the majors — putting runners in scoring position but stranding all but one, and Kepler, hitless in five of his six previous games this year and sporting an .091 average, launching a tie-breaking home run into the Twins' bullpen the moment Sale left the game.
The veteran left-hander, who feasted on the mid-2010s Twins while with the White Sox, struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced, and never allowed more than one hit in an inning in his six-inning start. Sale struck out 11, giving him eight 10-strikeout games in his career against Minnesota, more than any pitcher except Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (19) and Randy Johnson (10).
Only when the Twins loaded the bases with a walk, a hit batter and a bunt single by Willi Castro did the Twins seriously threaten Sale, and Carlos Correa cashed in the opportunity with a sacrifice fly.
Yet Sale's masterful performance was matched by Gray's tightwire act; each allowed only one run, though Gray stranded eight Red Sox runners, five of them in scoring position. Alex Verdugo led off the first inning with a double to deep right-center and quickly scored when Rafael Devers singled. Justin Turner then reached on Miranda's throwing error, but Gray wriggled out of the inning with a ground out and back-to-back strikeouts.
Boston loaded the bases in the second inning, too, but again, Gray got out of it with a big swing-and-miss strikeout against Turner. Leadoff hits in the fourth and fifth inning made him work, too, but no more runs crossed the plate until the Vazquez's glove got in the way in the eighth.
