The Boston Red Sox avoided a sweep against the Los Angeles Angels with a walk-off home run that could only have come at Fenway Park.
Red Sox centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run blast against Angels reliever Brock Burke, just clearing the short right-field wall and traveling 308 feet. Per Baseball Savant, Fenway Park is the only MLB park where Rafaela’s hit would have been a home run.
Statcast metrics show the long ball had an exit velocity of 94 mph and an expected .180 batting average.
While it might have been a cheap home run, the Red Sox (30-34) certainly shouldn’t apologize.
They haven’t caught many breaks this year. Half of their losses have come by one run, and they are 6-17 in those games.
Third baseman Alex Bregman, who signed a lucrative three-year, $120 million contract in free agency, has been out since May 24 with a quad injury. At the time, manager Alex Cora described it as “significant,” adding that “he’s going to be out for a while.”
The Red Sox also acquired ace Garrett Crochet in a December 2024 trade with the Chicago White Sox. While he’s been as good as advertised, posting a 1.98 earned run averaged and an MLB-high 101 strikeouts in his first 13 starts, he’s only 5-4 thanks to Boston giving him minimal run support (3.9 runs per start), including three runs or fewer in four consecutive starts.
Boston hasn’t taken advantage of its offseason additions, but it at least maximized the benefits of Fenway’s short right-field porch.
