Ceddanne Rafaela hits a walk-off homer in the ninth for wild win to save the Red Sox from a series sweep

Before the series finale on Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park, Red Sox first base coach Jose Flores and Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson exchanged pleasantries with each other in a shouting match on the field. It’s unclear what the two sides were arguing over, but it’s fair to say the Sox got the last word in.

Ceddanne Rafaela saved the Red Sox from an embarrassing three-game sweep, hitting a walk-off two-run homer off reliever Brock Burke that snuck into the first row of the right field seats near the Pesky Pole. Rafaela’s 308-foot homer gave the Red Sox an 11-9 win over the Halos, avoiding the sweep and, at the very least, giving Boston a smidge of momentum heading into the Bronx this weekend.

“To say we needed this one is an understatement," Alex Cora said. "Of course, from their angle in the dugout, they typically don’t know if it’s fair or foul off the bat. Usually when they hit it down the line, everybody screams Pesky. Sometimes you’re begging for one. You can’t tell if it’s fair or foul. They saw the call and went nuts.”

Rafaela’s 308-foot winner, was the shortest homer in the MLB this season and the shortest hit by a Red Sox player at Fenway Park in the Statcast ERA (since 2015). It was the shortest walk-off homer hit in MLB during the Statcast ERA, the team announced. The athletic outfielder extended his hitting streak to eight games, which ties for his second-longest streak of his career. He is hitting .412 with a 1.236 OPS overall for the streak.

“I’ve been feeling good, not only the past few games but since the year started,” said Rafaela. “I’ve been feeling good, my confidence is up and I’m going to try to keep helping the team win every day.”

The Sox came from behind four times on Wednesday, overcoming a disastrous start from Lucas Giolito, who surrendered seven runs in 1 2/3 innings. He threw 43 pitches, getting just one whiff, and six of his eight hits allowed went for extra bases.

Giolito gave up eight hits and only recorded five outs in his outing. The Angels' first five hitters opened the game with a double, a double, a single, a homer, and another single. Giolito was inept, finally recording his first out on his 17th pitch of the afternoon, getting Logan O’Hoppe to line out to rookie Marcelo Mayer. The Fenway Faithful of 33,073 gave the Sox’ hurler a sarcastic cheer for finally getting an out.

For the second time in the series, the Red Sox were facing a deficit after the first inning, but that didn’t faze Boston’s lineup. The Sox’ first six batters all reached base en route to a five-run inning. Wilyer Abreu put the Sox on the board with an RBI single, and Carlos Narváez singled to load the bases before Mayer drew a walk to record his first career RBI in the big leagues. Abraham Toro added an RBI single of his own, and David Hamilton came up with a big go-ahead two-run double, putting the Sox on top, 5-4.

Giolito immediately coughed up the lead, giving up three more extra-base hits, including a game-tying triple by Zach Neto and a go-ahead double by Nolan Schanuel. Taylor Ward, who mashed his 17th homer in the first inning, tacked on a sacrifice fly, and after Giolito walked Jorge Soler, Cora had seen enough and pulled the troubled starter.

Giolito’s horrendous start continued a trend where the Red Sox starters allowed runs in the first inning. Boston has now allowed 47 runs in the first inning this season, which is more than any other inning and ranks second-worst in MLB behind only the worst team in the game, the Colorado Rockies, who have given up 66 runs. The veteran starter saw his ERA balloon to 6.42 in his first seven starts.

“It was terrible,” Giolito said of his performance. “I’m super proud of the team, everyone came to play today big time, bullpen was incredible, a lot’s being asked of them and I put them in a terrible position.”

“There’s no excuse,” Giolito added. “I’ve got to figure it the (expletive) out.”

With the Angels back up 7-5, the Sox put pressure on the Halos, loading the bases with no outs in the fourth, following an excellent 11-pitch at-bat from Duran, who worked a walk. Abreu hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, and Narvaez tied the game with an RBI single. Boston’s offense was relentless in trying to get back into the game, chasing away Angels starter José Soriano, who allowed seven runs over 3 2/3 innings.

The two sides exchanged blows back-and-forth like two amateur boxers before the Angels took the lead again when former Red Sox prospect Matthew Lugo reached on a leadoff single and advanced on an error from Brennan Bernardino. Lugo scored on an RBI single off the Green Monster, courtesy of O’Hoppe, giving Los Angeles an 8-7 advantage.

Toro tied the game in the seventh; of course, the Angels took the lead in the eighth before the Red Sox rallied again. Trailing by 9-8 in the home half of the eighth, Trevor Story reached on a fielding error and later came around to score off an RBI single up the middle from Devers.

Cooper Criswell gave the Sox a shutdown inning, keeping the Angels off the board, helping to set the table for a dramatic ninth inning. Toro singled before Rafaela hit the walk-off homer to send the fans home happy.

"It was a grindy one," said Duran after the walk-off win. "It felt like we played two games out there. But it was a big one. They fought hard. We fought hard. And we just came out on top. I’m really proud of this team for keeping at it. We could have easily gotten down on ourselves after taking the lead, giving it up, taking the lead, giving it up. But as a team, we came together and we pulled out the ‘W.’”

The Red Sox are off on Thursday before heading to New York to take on the Yankees for the first time this season. The rivals will play three in the Bronx with Walker Buehler (4-3, 4.44 ERA) on Friday, left-handed ace Garrett Crochet (5-4, 1.99 ERA) on Saturday, and Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 4.06 ERA) will get the ball in the series finale on Sunday.

“We go to New York, take that series and see where we’re at and then we come home and hopefully play better here,” Cora said. “But it starts in New York, so we’ve just got to go over there and win the series.”