Fenway Park has been round for effectively over a century, however the 36,021 followers who got here out for Monday’s Labor Day matinee might effectively have witnessed the strangest residence run within the ballpark’s lengthy historical past.
Main off the underside of the sixth, Trevor Story despatched a fly ball the other technique to the bottom of Pesky’s Pole in proper area. The ball was playable for Jhonkensy Noel, however when Cleveland Guardians proper fielder tried to make the catch, the ball bounced out of his glove, hit the foul pole and fell to the bottom.
Was it a foul ball? A floor rule double? After some preliminary confusion and the help of replay, the umpires confirmed it was a house run, a real only-at-Fenway solo shot that helped energy the Crimson Sox to a 6-4 win.
“It was good, it was clearly cool to get one off the Pesky’s Pole, I believe that’s the primary one I’ve bought,” Story mentioned later. “It was loopy, I didn’t know what was occurring at first and in the previous few clips I noticed it hit the pole so I felt good about it.”
Story’s homer traveled simply 306 toes and was the shortest non-inside-the-parker in MLB this season. It was the spotlight of a productive but disjointed offensive efficiency for the Crimson Sox, who tallied 14 hits however stranded 12 males and went 4 for 14 with runners in scoring place.
The sport additionally moved at a glacial tempo aided partly by beginning pitchers Brayan Bello and Parker Messick, neither of whom introduced their ‘A’ sport.
The Crimson Sox began off on the appropriate foot, scoring two runs within the backside of the primary to take an early lead. Roman Anthony singled to steer off the inning, superior to 3rd on an Alex Bregman double and scored after Messick was known as for a balk. Romy Gonzalez adopted with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
From there, the sport slowed to a crawl.
After already laboring by a 24-pitch scoreless first, Bello bought fully caught within the mud within the prime of the second. He allowed a leadoff stroll, a single and one other stroll to load the bases with no outs, after which he gave up back-to-back singles, together with an RBI knock by C.J. Kayfus and a two-run single by Brayan Rocchio that put Cleveland in entrance.
Bello was capable of work his manner out of the jam with out additional harm, however not earlier than operating his pitch rely as much as 59.
Messick wasn’t any extra environment friendly for the Guardians. He allowed the Crimson Sox to get runners on the corners with two outs within the second, setting the desk for Story to tie the sport at 3-3 with an RBI single. The Crimson Sox loaded the bases afterwards however got here away empty handed, and after a scoreless third squandered one other alternative with two on within the fourth.
Messick was pulled after 3.2 innings, however a curious choice by the Guardians opened the door for Boston within the fifth, and this time they have been capable of take benefit.
Regardless of the Crimson Sox having three righties due up, together with lefty killer Rob Refsnyder to steer off the inning, Cleveland inserted lefty reliever Erik Sabrowski to begin the fifth. Refsnyder predictably doubled off the Guardians lefty, and Sabrowski adopted by strolling Nate Eaton and hitting Ceddanne Rafaela to load the bases.
Cora went to his bench and pinch hit Carlos Narvaez, and the rookie delivered with a two-run single to place the Crimson Sox again in entrance.
The Crimson Sox reloaded the bases after the go-ahead single however once more failed to return by. Anthony struck out and Bregman grounded into an inning-ending double play, after which level Boston had 9 males left on base by the primary 5 innings.
Happily for Boston, the lead proved ample.
Bello was capable of grind by 5 innings and left after permitting three runs on six hits with 4 strikeouts and three walks. He was adopted by lefty Justin Wilson, who carved up the Guardians for a scoreless sixth on simply six pitches.
“It was a grind for Brayan, a variety of foul balls, a variety of lefties, they’re going to place the ball in play they usually discovered holes, however he was capable of give us 5, and prior to now that’s 3.2, 5 runs, six runs,” Crimson Sox supervisor Alex Cora mentioned. “That’s who he’s proper now, he gave us an opportunity to win.”
Bello mentioned postgame that he simply wished to go as deep as doable as soon as he survived the laborious first two innings.
“My focus was to get fast outs so I can go deep into the sport, go 5 – 6,” Bello mentioned through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Fortunately I used to be ready to try this.”
Story got here by along with his bizarre residence run within the backside of the body, making it 6-3 Boston and giving the shortstop 86 RBI on the season. That’s his most in a season since he recorded 108 in 2018, and with 23 video games remaining a second profession 100 RBI season may be very a lot in play.
“I believe Trevor is form of like the sport changer. Him hitting 20-plus homers and operating the bases effectively and we’ve been speaking about homers however now it’s the typical, he’s as much as like (.260),” Cora mentioned. “This can be a actually good season for a man that not too many individuals thought he was going to have the ability to do it.”
The Guardians bought a run again on a solo shot by Kyle Manzardo off Steven Matz within the seventh, however the Crimson Sox bullpen shut issues down the remainder of the way in which. Aroldis Chapman got here on within the ninth for his twenty eighth save of the season, giving the Crimson Sox their ninth win in 12 video games.
Deja vu
Sarcastically, one of many few residence runs in latest reminiscence that was considerably corresponding to Story’s residence run was hit by his future supervisor virtually precisely 19 years to the day earlier.
On Aug. 31, 2006, Cora hit his solely profession residence run at Fenway Park off future Corridor of Famer Roy Halladay in an eventual 6-4 Crimson Sox win. The ball went to the appropriate area nook and was playable for Blue Jays proper fielder Alex Rios, however Rios dropped it and knocked the ball into the stands along with his throwing hand by mistake.
Right here’s the one homer at Fenway Park that Alex Cora was speaking about.
Yesterday was the nineteenth anniversary of it.
pic.twitter.com/pu0WPX4nWV https://t.co/Zja8kK6kA4
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) September 1, 2025
Cora mentioned that residence run got here up on Sunday, so it was contemporary in everybody’s reminiscence when Story’s second echoed his the next afternoon.
“They confirmed a replay yesterday of my solely residence run at Fenway, it was a fly ball to proper area and Alexis Rios bobbled it like 3 times and the ball went out of it,” Cora mentioned. “They watched it, and Trevor was like ‘identical to yours!’”
Blue Jays lose
Whereas the Crimson Sox have been caring for enterprise at Fenway Park, they bought an help greater than 800 miles away when the Cincinnati Reds rallied within the ninth to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4. With Toronto’s loss and the New York Yankees idle, the Crimson Sox (77-62) at the moment are simply 2.5 video games again of the Blue Jays within the AL East and tied with the Yankees for the highest AL Wild Card spot.
With lower than a month and 23 video games remaining, the Crimson Sox consider they’re in an ideal spot.
“Baseball is a loopy sport and I really feel like two video games is nothing,” Story mentioned. “With that being mentioned we’re locked in on what we now have to do every night time to win and never nervous about what anybody else is doing, and if we care for our enterprise then we’ll be the place we need to be on the finish.”
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