Leon waited a while for his turn

For eight long innings, Sandy Leon mostly watched as the Red Sox and Kansas City Royals traded runs, errors and wild pitches.

Then, pressed into service off the bench, Leon managed to impact the Red Sox’ 9-8 victory in 10 innings in every way possible – with his bat, his arm, and, most improbably, his legs.

“It feels good (to contribute),’’ said Leon.  “I was ready, when it happened. I was ready for anything.’’

Which was good, since despite his late arrival, Leon soon impacted the game from behind the plate, in the batter’s box and on the basepaths.

After starting catcher Christian Vazquez was lifted for pinch-runner Brock Holt in the bottom of the eighth, Leon took over the behind the plate in the top of the ninth and, one batter later, faced the prospect of Terrance Gore, arguably the fastest player in the American League, dangling off first, representing the potential go-ahead run.

Sure enough, Gore broke for second, but Leon fired a strong throw to second that nabbed Gore, keeping a dangerous baserunner out of scoring position.

An inning later, Leon stepped into the box to lead off the bottom of the 10th. Kansas City reliever Mike Minor ran the count full.

“He likes to pitch inside a lot with his fastball and slider,’’ said Leon. “He threw me a couple cutters and I think one almost got me. Then, I was ready for something hard and he threw me a fastball on 3-and-2 and hit it real well.’’

After a strikeout by Rafael Devers and an intentional walk to Mookie Betts, both Leon and Betts moved up on a wild pitch by Minor – the sixth by Kansas City pitchers in the game and third by Minor alone.

With the Royals’ infield in to try to cut down the winning run at the plate, Eduardo Nunez slapped a ball past the most that shortstop Alcides Escobar knocked down. Leon froze for a moment as Escobar tumbled on his back and noticed Betts caught too far off second.

“We were in a see-it-through (baserunning approach),’’ explained third base coach Brian Butterfield, meaning that Leon was instructed to make sure that the ball got through the infield defenders before committing to the plate.  “Mookie saw the ball hit up the middle and your normal response on a ball hit on the ground is to move forward, even though he knew we were in a see-it-through.  I’m sure he got caught in no-man’s land when Escobar (fielded) the ball.  And I think Sandy saw that Betts was coming (to third).’’

Escobar briefly considered trying to catch Betts, but instead fired to first to nab Nunez. Meanwhile,  fearful that Betts was about to get caught in a rundown, Leon broke for home. At perhaps the slowest baserunner on the Red Sox, it was something of a gamble.

“I saw Mookie too far from second base,’’ Leon offered, “and I thought he was going to get in a rundown.’’

After recording the out on Nunez, Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer turned and threw home.

“It was a pretty close play,’’ recounted Leon. “ I saw (Royals catcher Drew Butera) reach for the ball (up the first base line), so the right side was open and I just tried to touch the plate without him touching me. It was close, but he didn’t touch me.’’

With the agility of a ballet dancer, Leon twisted his body to evade a slap tag by Butera, while managing to slap his hand on the plate.

“That’s a great play,’’ enthused Butterfield. “You can have well-laid plans, but then something happens and we deviate from it, and he made an instinctive play and an athletic slide. I know that seems kind of odd, because it’s Sandy, a big, strong guy. But that was an athletic side. Great play, won us the game.’’

Even after skillfully eluding the tag, Leon had to wait in a bit of suspended animation to see if the play was going to be reviewed. In a matter of seconds, it was determined that the proper call was made, and the celebration, delayed for a while, began.

“That’s the game now,’’ shrugged a smiling Leon. “You have to respect that and just wait.’’

And waiting was something Leon had already done for much of the night.