Red Sox Share Accountability For Game-Losing Blunder
BOSTON — In what would become an extremely rough day for the Red Sox, there seemed to be a sliver of hope that a win was on the horizon at Fenway Park on Saturday.
The Red Sox offense had been kept quiet for the majority of their loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, but things started to look promising in the bottom of the ninth inning. Adam Duvall, Reese McGuire and Luis Urías all singled in back-to-back-to-back at-bats to cut Boston’s deficit to one with just one out in the inning. That brought Connor Wong to the plate, who crushed a ball 101 mph off the bat into left-center field.
If I told you that ended the game, you’d assume the Red Sox walked it off, right?
Wrong.
The game did end, but Wong’s blast came up just feet short of a home run and missed grazing the left-field wall by literal inches, falling into the glove of Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier. There was only out before the at-bat, yes, but McGuire was caught in a bad read and was doubled off at second base to end the game.
You can watch the colossal mistake here.
“You know, hindsight, if that ball hits off the wall I can be not to third base yet and probably be able to touch it and turn and go home and it’s a tie game there.”
Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire
The error, and everything that went into it, prompted an explanation from McGuire.
“I just ended up making the wrong read there,” McGuire explained. “… You know, hindsight, if that ball hits off the wall I can be not to third base yet and probably be able to touch it and turn and go home and it’s a tie game there. I think there was no reason for me to round it there, but I just got a bad read at second, I guess.”
It was a bad read, that much can’t be argued, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora stuck up for his catcher in stating that the whole dugout thought it was going to be a home run.
“I think we all missed that one,” Cora said. “Reese took off and (Red Sox third base coach Carlos Febles) was looking at Urías. Everybody thought it was going to be off the wall. It’s a bad play, a bad baseball play.
“We all thought it was gone. … We just missed out.”
Febles didn’t give a clear sign to McGuire, prompting confusion as the 28-year-old finally lifted his head up for the sign. It was a mistake-ridden play by everyone involved, as Cora mentioned, but with its positioning in the American League Wild Card race slipping by the day, those are the kind of plays Boston can’t have.