Red Sox
“I’m glad there was no mic on me. I was screaming at the top of my lungs.”
Ceddanne Rafalea summed up his night succinctly on Wednesday.
“It’s a beautiful game, right,” Rafaela noted, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe.
The Red Sox outfielder ran through the full gamut of emotions during Boston’s latest game in Baltimore — going from the primary culprit of a back-breaking loss to the hero in Boston’s eventual 3-2 win.
With Boston staring at a 2-1 deficit in the ninth inning, it was Rafaela who spurred Boston to a third-straight win — clubbing a two-run home run to give his team a lead it would not relinquish.
“Yeah, I’m glad there was no mic on me. I was screaming at the top of my lungs,” Jarren Duran, who was on first base when Rafaela left the yard, said postgame. “I mean, I’m not surprised. That guy’s been doing it all year. But I was just really satisfied, to be able to come back like that and take the lead.”
Rafaela is no stranger when it comes to rising to the occasion in crunch time.
As noted by MassLive’s Chris Smith, Wednesday’s big fly marked the third time this season that Rafaela has hit a go-ahead or game-winning homer this season in the ninth inning or later — tying him with the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz, Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, and Brewers’ William Contreras for the most home runs under those circumstances.
According to former Red Sox stats guru J.P. Long, Rafaela is the first Red Sox player to hit multiple homers in a single season that turned a deficit into a lead in the 9th inning or later since David Ortiz in 2006.
Before Ortiz, the only other Red Sox to hit multiple home runs under that category in a single season were Dwight Evans in 1990 and Ted Williams in 1958.
You know, my team expects me to,” Rafaela said of his clutch hitting. “They know. Yeah, my team, they’re behind me. They supported me. But no, it’s just keeping it calm and not trying to do too much, just doing my best.”
Rafaela’s game-winning blast was a welcome sight after both he and Duran nearly squandered the game in the outfield just two innings earlier.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Red Sox starter Brayan Bello was seemingly set to exit the frame unscathed after forcing Dylan Carlson to fly out to left-center field.
But an uncharacteristic miscommunication between Rafaela and Duran, what should be a simple flyout turned into a run-scoring double — as the ball dropped between the two fielders and led to a 2-1 Orioles lead.
“I mean, it’s part of baseball,” Rafaela said. “You’ve got to keep going. We had a miscommunication there, but we kept it going and we did it, us two, in the ninth.”
Sure enough, it was both Rafaela and Duran who atoned for their mistake in the ninth.
Duran opened the inning by ripping a single into left, with Rafaela giving his team the lead just three pitches later.
Even with the speedy Duran on first, Rafaela was candid when asked by NESN’s Jahmai Webster about what his approach was going to be at the plate.
“I was going deep,” Rafaela said with a smile.
Despite that rare fault committed in the field, Rafaela picked an ideal time to club his first home run since July 13.
“It was great,” Rafaela said. “I was having tough times. I wanted to help the team, and finally came through. I mean, I feel great right now.”
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