The Boston Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday to take the second game and the series from the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 at Fenway Park.
The walk-off win was the fourth of the season for the Red Sox, and set Boston up for a series sweep over San Francisco in Sunday’s 3:15 p.m. ET game with rookie left-hander Jake Bennett returning to the mound, opposed by the Giants‘ Matt Wilkinson making just his second major league start.
Before the series finale against the Giants, the Red Sox made a decision with a 31-year-old catcher who previously played parts of three seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, placing the Triple-A backstop on the injured list.
Jason Delay landed on Worcester’s 7-day IL Saturday, according to his MiLB.com transaction ledger, though the Red Sox did not reveal the nature of his injury or any recovery time estimate beyond the weeklong minimum stay on the injured list. The move leaves Boston’s organizational catching depth thinner than it looked a week ago, even with the big-league roster riding high off a walk-off finish.
Delay has spent his career as the definition of a steady hand behind the plate. Born in Plano, Texas, he built his reputation at Vanderbilt University, where he helped the Commodores win the 2014 College World Series. Pittsburgh took him in the fourth round of the 2017 draft, a year after he passed on an earlier offer from San Francisco.
Boston Red Sox Add Jason Delay for Catching Depth
GettyJason Delay #61 of the Boston Red Sox.
Delay debuted with the Pirates on June 14, 2022, and spent parts of three seasons in the majors, hitting .231/.295/.315 with two home runs and 35 RBI over 373 plate appearances, according to BoSox Injection‘s Katie Manganelli. A torn meniscus limited him to seven games in 2024, and Pittsburgh traded him to Atlanta in April 2025. The Braves used him as insurance behind Sean Murphy, but he hit .200 between Double-A and Triple-A before being outrighted off the 40-man roster in late July. He elected free agency in October.
Boston signed Delay to a minor league contract days later, a move first reported by Just Baseball‘s Aram Leighton, with an invitation to major-league spring training attached.
Both Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong, Boston’s top two catchers, were recovering from offseason surgery — Narváez from a meniscus repair, Wong from a carpal boss excision — and the Red Sox wanted a proven veteran behind the plate in case either rehab slipped.
Delay’s Path Back to a Major-League Roster
Delay opened 2026 in major-league camp before being reassigned to minor-league camp in late March, then settled into Worcester as exactly what he was brought in to be, that is, a defensive-minded veteran who can catch a staff and steady a WooSox pitching staff loaded with the organization’s top pitching prospects.
His offense has never been the selling point. Scouting reports consistently praise his framing, arm, and game-calling, while flagging a bat that’s below-average with little power, according to SoxProspects.com.
A return to Boston’s active roster would most likely require an injury to Wong or newly acquired All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, since Delay is not on the Red Sox 40-man roster.
Red Sox Announce Decision on 31-Year-Old Catcher Before Giants Finale