Boston Red Sox

Red Sox defeat Rays in Game 4 to advance to the ALCS

Kiké Hernández hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to give the Red Sox a 6-5 win.

Kiké Hernández gets mobbed by his Red Sox teammates after hitting the series-winning sacrifice fly. (Stan GrossfeldGlobe Staff)

By Conor Roche

1 minute to read

One year after having one of the worst records in baseball, the Red Sox are heading on to the ALCS.

Boston defeated Tampa Bay 6-5 in Game 4 on Monday night, winning the series 3-1 to advance.

Following five straight runs from the Rays to tie the game at 5-5, the Red Sox notched another walk-off win. A single by Christian Vazquez got the 9th inning started, and he moved to second on Christian Arroyo’s sacrifice bunt. Travis Shaw, pinch-hitting for Bobby Dalbec, reached first when Rays first baseman Ji-Mang Choi didn’t cleanly field a throw, advancing Vazquez to third. Kiké Hernández hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in the series-winning run.

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After a disappointing Game 1 performance, Eduardo Rodriguez gave the Red Sox five solid innings in his start on Monday, allowing two runs on three hits, no walks, and six strikeouts.

The Red Sox got nearly all of their runs in the third inning. Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer off Rays lefty Shane McClanahan, who came in to relieve starter Collin McHugh at the beginning of the inning. Xander Bogaerts drove Devers in on the next at-bat, and Alex Verdugo hit a double to score Bogaerts, giving Boston a 5-0 lead.

However, the Red Sox blew their five-run lead. Down 5-2 in the sixth, Rays’ shortstop Wander Franco hit a solo home run to cut the Red Sox lead to two. In the eighth, Ryan Brasier gave up consecutive doubles to Matt Zunino and Kevin Kiermier, making it a 5-4 game. Randy Arozarena tied it in the following at-bat with his single to score Kiermier.

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Garrett Whitlock came in right after the Arozarena hit, retiring six straight Rays hitters to keep the score tied.

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