In the seventh inning of the Red Sox‘s third game of their road series against the Orioles on Wednesday night, pitcher Brayan Bello, looking to cap off a brilliant outing, allowed a two-out walk and then got a deep fly ball that was high enough to be easily playable in the outfield.
Except it wasn’t. Left fielder Jarren Duran converged with center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and the ball dropped between them for a double. That was Bello’s final batter of the night, and he left with the Red Sox trailing, 2-1.
“I’m an idiot,” Duran told reporters after the game. “I’m so used to him being an absolute vacuum out there, when I heard his footsteps, I was like, ‘Oh,’ [and backed off]. It’s all on me. It should’ve been my ball all the way.”
Rafaela chalked it up to a miscommunication. The two outfielders’ misplay threatened to be the losing play.
Ceddanne Rafaela Gets Redemption
That was until the ninth, at least, when Rafaela came to the plate after Duran reached on a single. He knocked a two-run homer that moved Boston ahead, 3-2, for the final tally in the game, giving the Red Sox six wins in seven games on their road trip, with the eighth and final game coming on Thursday afternoon.
“To be honest with you, I kind of felt it [coming],” Rafaela said.
Rafaela had been struggling at the plate before the game-winner. Since the All-Star break, he was batting .188 with just a .491 OPS in 35 games. He had been turning things around, though, since a 1-for-19 stretch in mid-August, with four hits in his last four games.
“It’s been tough,” Rafaela said. “I’m not happy but I have come to the field and show up for my guys. And I feel the support … They believe in me. If you see when I hit the home run there, they kind of knew it because they trust me. I feel really happy with the guys I have around me.”
Red Sox Sending Ace Garrett Crochet to Mound
The Red Sox will try to complete the sweep of the Orioles on Thursday with ace Garrett Crochet on the mound, and get some revenge for the two games they lost to Baltimore last week in Boston, just ahead of this trip.
Crochet has been dominant all season for the Red Sox, at 14-5, and is in a two-man race for the AL Cy Young Award with Tarik Skubal of the Tigers. He has been especially dominant in day games this year, going 7-2 with a 1.87 ERA and an incredible 108 strikeouts in 82.0 innings.
Crochet said he is not quite sure why that is, and was as surprised to see the numbers as anyone.
“Someone had said something at one point, then I looked at it and I was like, holy [expletive],” Crochet said, via the Globe.
Red Sox’s Ceddanne Rafaela ‘Felt It’ Before Breaking Slump With Dramatic HR