Ceddanne Rafaela creates pandemonium throughout Fenway Park with walk-off homer, sealing Red Sox’ eighth straight win

Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball, and on Friday night, he sent the screaming 35,452 fans at Fenway Park home with one of the biggest wins of the season.

In the bottom of the ninth, rookie Roman Anthony pinch hit for Abraham Toro and drew a one-out walk. That’s when Rafaela stepped to the plate, looking to cash in against Rays closer Peter Fairbanks.

Down one run and the Sox’ seven-game winning streak hanging in the balance, Rafaela demolished a 1-2 slider that went deep over the Green Monster.

“I faced him the last time they were here, and he threw me one curveball I didn’t swing (at),” Rafaela said. “Since then, I wanted to see that curveball again. He’s a great pitcher. He threw a great pitch. I made a great swing.”

He watched his dramatic two-run walk-off homer sail into the night sky; walking towards first base, he calmly dropped his bat as pandemonium swept through The Fens.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment since I was watching games with my mom in 2004, ’05, ’06, and ’07, to play in this atmosphere,” Rafaela said. “When I hit that home run, I was thinking about my mom and my wife back home. And for this team, it was a special moment.”

This was Rafaela’s second career walk-off home run, with his first coming against the Angels on June 4, when he wrapped a homer around the Pesky Pole in right field. His blast on Friday night was more poetic as the Red Sox continue to look for their new identity post-Rafael Devers.

“He’s a good breaking ball hitter,” Alex Cora said. “He likes this stuff. You heard him last night. It’s about winning. He wants that environment tonight, in October, because that was October today with the fans.

"Think about it, it was Marcelo, Roman, and Rafaela. That’s pretty young. The future of the organization is bright. The present is bright, too."

The Curaçao native grew up a Red Sox fan, dreaming of having a moment like Friday night as a kid. His 13th home run of the season gave the Red Sox their eighth straight win, which moved them into third place in the American League East, a half game ahead of the Rays, and now Boston is just three games behind the Yankees for second place.

“Tonight was real, and we appreciate that,” said Cora. “They got here early. I think they did the wave once, which was good, and it was very loud. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. It was on us to make this place uncomfortable. Tonight was uncomfortable. You could feel it.”

The 24-year-old has been locked in over the last 15 games, batting .339 with five homers and 16 RBI. Rafaela has significantly contributed to the Red Sox' (51-45) recent eight-game winning streak. He’s driven in a run in seven consecutive games from the bottom of the order.

“He’s been one of the best players in baseball over the past month and a half, two months,” said Alex Bregman. “He’s got an incredibly bright future in this game. He’s a stud.”

BREGMAN RETURNS

Before Friday night's thrilling victory, everyone was focused on Bregman, who was making his comeback to the lineup for the first time in 43 games. Showing no signs of the quad injury that sidelined him, he went 1-for-4.

Bregman hit a grounder to Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, looking a little slow out of the box. Caminero bobbled the ball but was able to throw out Bregman at first base. He struck out in the third inning, and in the fifth, he sharply roped another grounder toward Caminero for the second out of the inning.

“You’ve got to be smart,” Bregman said. “Smash a ball down the third base line, a guy dives, and you’ve got to make sure you’re running at under 100%. I feel like over the course of the next few weeks, just building up into this, it’s gonna be good.

“It sucks. But it’s something that in the first few weeks, especially, I’ve just got to be smart out of the box. I felt like when I got out there today, I couldn’t feel my legs. They felt like they weighed like five pounds. Later in the game, they felt like they weighed a little bit more than that. But it was good to get back. My body feels good.”

Bregman smoked his 18th double of the season to center field in the eighth for his first hit since coming off the injured list.

“Obviously, it took a few at-bats to get feeling good, but most importantly, my body felt good, and I was able to square a few balls up there in my last two at-bats,” Bregman said. “Good to be back. What an incredible team win.”

The huge team win was thanks to a Red Sox team that continued to chip away at the Rays over the course of nine innings and Rafaela putting the cherry on top with his huge two-run shot.

“That was awesome,” said Bregman. “Obviously, we’re playing a really good team over there. We’ve been playing well. For Rafaela to walk it off and to hear our fans go crazy—you could still hear them in the clubhouse after the game—it was awesome. It was probably my favorite of the win, for sure, so far."

Boston has 66 games remaining on their schedule and will play formidable teams all vying for playoff spots. They’ll have a gauntlet of a schedule post-All-Star break where they’ll face the Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers. Those three series will paint a clearer picture of how the next couple of weeks will go for the Red Sox. Right now, the momentum is on their side; with a win on Saturday, the Sox will have won another series, and an important one against a divisional foe.