Even Red Sox’s Chad Tracy can’t believe historic comeback to beat White Sox

The Boston Red Sox were quite sloppy for much of Thursday night’s series finale versus the Chicago White Sox, making the type of mistakes that fans saw for the first three months of the campaign. They committed two errors that resulted in three runs, potential tying run Jarren Duran made the final out of the eighth inning after attempting to steal third base and former Sox prospect Chase Meidroth blasted two two-run homers. This should have been a loss that temporarily transported Fenway Park to this past spring.

But if it was not clear already, Boston once again proved that this is a completely different team. Chad Tracy’s ballclub overcame its blunders and the Chicago White Sox’s steady offensive attack, relying on clutch two-out hits, run-saving defense and a whole lot of moxie to stun Chicago with a 12-11 extra-innings victory. This weakling-turned-juggernaut came back five times during this four-and-a-half-hour game, before Caleb Durbin notched the walk-off single in the 13th.

This no longer feels like a magical story. Awe-inspiring grit is simply a part of the Red Sox’s identity. Tracy used seven words that encapsulate how this group has carried itself during what is now a 31-5 stretch since June 25.

“They just did not want to lose,” the interim manager said after Boston’s eighth consecutive win, per USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale. “It was incredible.”

The Red Sox embody what it means to be a team

Durbin continues to be at the forefront of this historic turnaround, typifying the heads-up, tenacious style of baseball that he first honed with the Milwaukee Brewers. He totaled a team-high three hits to go with his heroic RBI. This was truly a collective effort, though.

Anthony Seigler and Andruw Monasterio, both of whom came over with Durbin in a February trade involving Kyle Harrison, also left a huge imprint on this marathon matchup. The former ended a brutal dry spell with three RBIs, which included a game-tying sacrifice fly in the 10h inning, and the latter smashed two RBI doubles.

Ceddanne Rafaela, Masataka Yoshida and Connor Wong all enjoyed multi-hit outings as well, Duran mitigated damage by throwing out Braden Montgomery at home in the 12th and Brayan Bello gutted through two innings on short rest. The Red Sox punched back from all sides, and finally, their opponents fell to the ground.

Boston is now just a half-game behind the New York Yankees for second place in the American League Wild Card standings and just five clear of the Tampa Bay Rays for the top record in the AL. Boston has shown everyone that a franchise can reinvent itself despite overwhelming bad optics, a last-place record and injuries to two of its most highly touted players.

Ideally, the Red Sox (63-51) will not have to be nearly as resilient in their upcoming home series versus the free-falling Athletics (45-70), one of the many teams that was ahead of Boston entering July.

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