SB Nation • 5 min read

Red Sox 5, Athletics 4: Sogard Saves the Day

The Sox needed this win badly. The wildcard picture has shifted, and the Sox are now hanging on for dear life for the third spot. With Cleveland securing a win today, and the Yankees and Astros continuing their win streaks, the Sox had to secure a dub to keep pace, which they did, in the bottom of the tenth with a walk-off fielder’s choice hit by Nick Sogard. The series against the Athletics is now still in play as well, which, thank goodness, who wants to lose a series right now, let alone to the A’s?

And a HUGE apology for not posting a game thread today, by the way—I was at the game and totally spaced making a game-thread post. At least I can write about a win for you guys! And if you were at Fenway for Section 10 day, I hope you had a great time!

Four Studs:

Nick Sogard: You get the Sox the walk-off win, you get Stud Status!

The Bullpen: Aside from Justin Wilson, everyone else shined, allowing no more runs for the rest of the game. It got hairy with Chapman in the top of the ninth, but he got out of his jam. Zack Kelly and Chris Murphy combined to keep the Athletics at 4 runs in the top of the tenth, all the more impressive considering the A’s got runners on the corners with no outs.

Rob Refsnyder: Hit a fun foul-pole homer to put the Sox up 2-1 in the second. Turns out we really needed that run!

Masataka Yoshida: Went 2-4 with 2 RBIs, including an infield single where he beat out the play and allowed a run to score from third in the top of the sixth.

Three Duds:

Lucas Giolito: Tonight wasn’t his night. His final line was 4.1 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 5 walks, and 5 strikeouts. The 5 walks were especially tough to watch. The ump wasn’t great tonight either, but combined with the hits allowed, there were a few jams Giolito got himself into, and he wasn’t able to get out of all of them.

Justin Wilson: Couldn’t clean up the mess Giolito made. He walked in a run that he inherited from Giolito and then gave up a 2-run single (that was also on Giolito). The runs didn’t go to him, but there was still a shot the Sox could’ve gotten out of the inning unscathed, and they didn’t.

Romy Gonzalez: Along with going 0-5 with 3 strikeouts and grounding into a double play, he also misfielded a grounder in the top of the fifth, which allowed the A’s to score two runs.