Alec Gamboa is not a starter. At least not at the Major League level caliber. But when the Red Sox needed someone to open a doubleheader on the last Friday of the regular season, they handed it to him anyway—and the Cubs made him pay for it quickly.
Tyrone Taylor doubled in the first inning to put Chicago on the board. Miguel Amaya followed with a two-run double in the second. Three runs in two innings, Clay Holmes cruising, and the Sox in a hole before most of Fenway (whoever was going to brave the risk
of weather) had settled into their seats.
Then the defense took over.
Caleb Durbin threw Matt Shaw out at the plate in the second inning to keep the Cubs from stretching it further. Isiah Kiner-Falefa made a sliding grab in the third. Andruw Monasterio came up with a diving catch in the fourth. Not glamorous plays in the box score, but they kept 3-0 from turning into 5-0, and that mattered later.
Roman Anthony was (finally) doing Roman Anthony things all afternoon. He went 3-for-3 with a walk and his fingerprints are on both comeback sequences that mattered. He got things started in the third when he scored on a Dansby Swanson throwing error to make it 3-1. Stayed alive. Kept the at-bats meaningful.
It stayed there until Adley Rutschman. With two on in the fifth against Caleb Thielbar, Rutschman hit a two-run double to tie the game. That’s the at-bat the rest of this recap hangs on. There’s no comeback without it.
The Cubs went to Aaron Civale in the seventh. Anthony tripled to right field, then Connor Wong stepped up and hit the go-ahead double. Red Sox 4, Cubs 3.
Willson Contreras didn’t play game one—his hand still won’t let him swing without pain. Ceddanne Rafaela sat out too. You can file away what Boston did to Chicago’s depleted lineup, but you can also file away that a team down 3-0 didn’t pack it in. The seventh inning happened.
Game 2 is next. They went ahead and won the first one.
Studs
Roman Anthony — 3-for-3 with a walk. On base four times. Scored on the error in the third to keep Boston in it, tripled in the seventh to set up the go-ahead, and was just relentless all afternoon. This was his game.
Adley Rutschman — utschman’s two-run double off Thielbar tied it and gave the whole thing a different shape. That’s what you pay for.
Connor Wong — Go-ahead double in the seventh coming in for Mickey Gasper. Simple entry in the ledger, but a needed go-ahead run.
Dud
The first two innings — Three runs on Gamboa before anyone got comfortable. Fair amount of that is on Gamboa, fair amount is just what happens when you open with a reliever and it doesn’t work. The Sox survived it. They shouldn’t count on that against a full-strength playoff opponent.
The wind — How many times did the wind knock balls down today? Yes for better with potential Cubbies homers knocked down, but also it’s a hamper on an already struggling offense for the Sox.
Play of the Game
Rutschman’s two-run double in the fifth. Down 3-1, two runners on, Cubs holding a lead that had felt comfortable since the second inning—and Rutschman turned the whole situation. That swing is why the seventh inning got to mean something.
