Ceddanne Rafaela’s walk-off triple punches the Red Sox ticket to postseason with walk-off win over Tigers

Maybe Craig Breslow was right.

Just 24 hours after he traded Rafael Devers to the Giants, he boldly made a prediction.

“At the end of the season,” Breslow said on a Zoom call to reporters following a trade that would change the trajectory of the Red Sox roster, “I think we could look back and say we’ve won more games than we otherwise would have because of the way that this roster is now able to come together.”

Fast-forward to Friday night, Breslow’s prediction came true as the Red Sox punched their ticket to the postseason, having gone 51-36 since the Devers trade. Boston will play in October courtesy of a walk-off triple from Ceddanne Rafaela in the bottom of the ninth to send Boston back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

Boston battled all night to put itself in a position to win in walk-off fashion. 

With one out, Romy Gonzalez singled into center field off Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle, setting up the heroics moments later. After seeing a first-pitch ball, the ever-aggressive Rafaela jumped all over an 87 mph changeup left over the middle of the plate and crushed it off the top of the center field wall, allowing Gonzalez to easily score from first.

It was Rafaela’s third walk-off hit of the season and the biggest of his young career.

At one point, it didn’t look like the Red Sox would be celebrating a big win following the game. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, attacking left-hander Kyle Harrison from the first pitch. The southpaw battled control issues, walking two of the first four hitters he faced. Harrison worked out of a bases-loaded jam, largely due to Jarren Duran making a fantastic catch on an Andy Ibáñez line drive up against the Green Monster.

In the fourth inning, Harrison wasn’t as lucky, and a leadoff walk led to three runs, and he was knocked out of the game.

Alex Cora managed Friday night’s game brilliantly, immediately going to his bullpen and summoning Justin Slaten and then five other relievers, combining for six scoreless innings.

Boston gradually reduced the Tigers' lead by scoring runs in the fourth, seventh, and eighth innings. Boston scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to Alex Bregman's ground-rule double and Masataka Yoshida's RBI single.

Yoshida’s leadoff single and Rafaela’s 33rd double finally knocked Casey Mize out of the game in the seventh. The Tigers starter tormented the Sox’ lineup all night, striking out eight batters with no walks in 6 1/3 innings of work. Rafaela missed a game-tying two-run homer by mere inches; it stayed in the park, hitting the top of the Green Monster.

The double put two runners in scoring position, setting up Nathaniel Lowe’s sacrifice fly off Kyle Finnegan. Lowe’s sacrifice RBI brought Boston within a run.

Garrett Whitlock continued to look special in high-leverage situations, tossing a clean eighth inning with three strikeouts.

In the home half of the eighth, Duran, arguably the heart and soul of the 2025 Red Sox team, came through with a clutch single that would tie the game. Carlos Narváez led off with a single, then walked back to the dugout as Nate Eaton entered the game as a pinch runner. Eaton took off for second base and seconds later scored on a Duran single to the left side of the infield.

Cora went to Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, and things instantly became dicey. Justyn-Henry Malloy opened the frame with a leadoff double, but the All-Star closer hunkered down, forcing Gleyber Torres to ground out to first base and striking out both Wenceel Perez and Spencer Torkelson swinging.

Chapman unleashed a nasty slider to strike out Torkelson to strand the potential go-ahead runner, and the roar of the crowd in Fenway sent chills down the spines of fans watching at home. 

Moments later, Rafaela sealed the win, and the Red Sox will be playing baseball in October. The Sox will soak up in the moment, literally, with champagne and beer before closing out the regular season.

The Sox still need to finish off the final two games of their schedule and will play the second game of the series with the Tigers on Saturday afternoon. Boston will send rookie lefty Connelly Early to the mound; the Tigers have not yet announced a starter. The first pitch is at 4:10 p.m.