There was unpredictability all around Rogers Centre on Wednesday night.
A pitcher threw his glove to slow a bunted ball. An umpire attempted to ring up Xander Bogaerts on the second strike. Benches emptied following an errant -- but in no way intentional -- pitch got away. And in the bottom of the final inning, the Red Sox contended that the Blue Jays illegally introduced a pinch runner into the game.
And yet, for all the unusual goings on, the unexpected development, the downright weirdness, this may have been the most unpredictable: the Red Sox won a game in Toronto. In extra innings, no less.
Talk about Stranger Things.
"It seems like the last 10 games in this place, it's been close games to the end,'' said Alex Cora after the Sox managed a 6-5, 10-inning victory. "Finally, we got one. It's been hard to win here.''
Indeed, this season alone, the Red Sox were 1-5 in Toronto this season. They were dominated Monday night, and Tuesday night, much to their disappointment, they let one get away.
You got the sense that the Red Sox were finally sick of losing to the Blue Jays and were determined to do something about it. Having already dropped yet another series to a division opponent and on the verge of being swept, the Red Sox didn't need any additional motivation. But unwittingly, the Jays may have provided it in the third.
The Blue Jays pushed the Red Sox' buttons. And the Red Sox pushed back. Hard.
A fastball that was supposed to get in on Alejandro Kirk with two out and one on got too much inside and clipped Kirk on the hand. That brought manager Charlie Montoyo out of the dugout -- ostensibly to check on his hitter, but also with the notion of complaining to the umpires about Pivetta's allegedly bad intentions. Soon, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was chirping at Pivetta from in front of the dugout, and soon enough, both benches empties.
Pivetta is no shrinking violet. He operates on emotion at times, and he didn't appreciate the overreaction on the part of the Jays.
"It's going to happen in the game,'' shrugged Pivetta of plunking a hitter. "I don't hit a lot of guys. I think it was unwarranted, the way they reacted. Spare parts, for lack of a better term. It's not what I'm trying to do in that situation. I'm trying to win a baseball game; I'm not trying to let anyone else on base. It is what it is.
"I didn't think it was necessary for (Guerrero) to come out screaming at me. It got me fired up and he got everybody else fired up.''
Meanwhile, in the sixth inning, Alex Verdugo cranked a rare mistake by Manoah into the right-field seats with a runner aboard, giving the Red Sox their first lead of the night. After listening to some chirping from fans in Rogers Centre, and just maybe, in response to some of Manoah's bursts of emotion on the mound, Verdugo seemed determined to take a leisurely stroll around the bases.
It's said that living well is the best revenge. In baseball, apparently it's running slow.
"That stemmed from a lot of trash talk out here in Toronto,'' said Verdugo in a post-game interview with NESN, "a lot of the fans and people chirping me the whole time. I've been real relaxed about it. In that moment, I put a good swing on a ball and wanted to let them know a little bit, right? It wasn't really toward the players or people like that. But when the fans are out there, constantly chirping you and they don't stop from when you're in left (field), when you're on deck, you're in the box.
"It gets under your skin a little bit, so to come out there and get a big hit and get the lead. It's just like, 'All right, fans, take a look now.'"
But one of Verdugo's teammates suggested that he might have had other motivation.
"Alek (Manoah) likes to enjoy his strikeouts and enjoy being good,'' said Pivetta, "so for Dugie to strike one off of him in a really big situation, I like what I'm seeing. I like the flair. It's good.''
So, too, was getting a win, which, for the time being, leapfrogged the Red Sox back over the Jays in the AL East standings, into second place in the division and the first wild card spot.
It was not easy, because this is Toronto and the Red Sox' bullpen issues persist. They blew a one-run lead in the eighth, then had withstand a furious comeback attempt by the Jays in the bottom of the 10th. It came down to an exhausted Matt Strahm, with a season high 41 pitches, getting the ever-dangerous George Springer on a popup with the tying run at third and the winning run at second.
Exhale.
"The biggest thing is, we didn't get swept,'' said Verdugo. "The first game, you give that to them. We feel like the second game, we should have won. Obviously, it didn't go that way. So it was a big today to come out here and get a big 'W' and avoid the sweep.''
And save some face, by pushing back.