Maybe the best wins are the ones you never see coming, the ones that, frankly, you might not have deserved.
They're the ones that feel like a bonus, like finding a $20 bill on a deserted sidewalk. You never expected it, didn't do anything to earn it, and yet, there it is. And it's yours.
That's how the Red Sox' 5-4, 10-inning thriller over the New York Yankees must have felt late Thursday night.
For much of the night, the Red Sox did nothing to distinguish themselves, beyond an encouraging -- if truncated -- start from Tanner Houck. When a 55-minute rain delay ended and Houck didn't retake the mound, his first start since Patriots Day (one unearned run to go with eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings) must have felt like the lone bright spot.
The Sox could do nothing against Yankee starter Jordan Montgomery, who held them scoreless over 5.2 innings. And when the Sox finally got around to scoring their first run of the night in the bottom of the seventh, there was the sense that they should have had more.
With the bases loaded and one out, Kike Hernandez jumped on a pitch from Lucas Luetge, for a flyout to center, scoring -- just barely -- Alex Verdugo from third. Oddly, Bobby Dalbec, who had been on second, did not try to advance to third as the throw went home. Then, with two out, when Rafael Devers hit a ball into the shift to the right of second base, third base coach Carlos Febles inexplicably sent Dalbec home all the way from second.
Gleyber Torres, back on the outfield grass and evidently concerned that he might not be able to throw out Devers at first, instead fired home, where Dalbec was out easily.
"We were a little bit over-aggressive,'' conceded Alex Cora almost a little sheepishly.
Having scrambled back to tie the score, the Red Sox then wasted no time in handing the lead right back to the Yanks. Adam Ottavino, who had been exceptional against his former team, promptly issued two straight walks in the top of the eighth and immediately, there was the sense that the Yankees would make the Sox pay.
They did, in the form of a single to left by Giancarlo Stanton and a sacrifice fly from Torres. And when the Sox went meekly in the eighth, it seemed that this one was going to slip through their hands.
That was particularly tough prospect given the quality of the opponent. Ravaged by COVID and a string of other baseball injuries which have since followed, the Yankee lineup featured five major league-quality players. And a loss, now just three outs away, would have dropped the Sox into a tie with the Tampa Bay Rays, who had won earlier in the night.
Worse, it would have been the Sox' third straight defeat to the Yankees in the last six days -- all after the roster had already been decimated.
But singles from Alex Verdugo and Bobby Dalbec put the potential tying run on and brought to the plate, with two outs, Hernandez produced the signature moment of his season. Hernandez has gone on a power surge in the last month, cracking eight homers, but no hit was bigger than the double he cracked to the left-field gap.
As first Verdugo and then pinch-runner Jarren Duran scored to tie the game, Fenway erupted in delirium and Hernandez, pumping his fist in celebration at second, soaked it in.
"That was pretty cool,'' conceded Hernandez. "I feel like that's the first time I've done something offensively for the crowd to get that pumped up. Definitely the loudest I've heard Fenway this year.''
And still, there was more. With the help of the automatic runner, the Yankees managed a run despite Matt Barnes retiring all three hitters he faced. Once more, the Red Sox trailed. Once more, they responded.
This time, however, they got plenty of help from the Yankees. Historic help, as it turned out.
New York reliever Brooks Kriske threw four (!) wild pitches in the span of two at-bats. His second allowed the Sox' automatic runner, Rafael Devers, to score from third base. His third and fourth put Xander Bogaerts on third, from where Hunter Renfroe merely needed to get the ball in the air and into the outfield.
Which he did, triggering another eruption.
No one had ever thrown four wild pitches in the same inning in a major league before. The Red Sox merely accepted their gift and put it in their pockets.
Winners don't apologize, or look back.
"We'll take it,'' said a satisfied Cora.
It was that kind of night.