Wilyer Abreu goes from four strikeouts to walk-off hero as Red Sox stun Giants in ninth

For eight innings Saturday night, the Red Sox couldn’t find the hit they needed. They even loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth and somehow came away empty-handed.

Then the ninth inning happened and Boston erased a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the ninth, walking off the Giants, 3-2, in front of a frenzied crowd of 36,478 at Fenway Park. And fittingly, on a night when seemingly nothing had gone right for Wilyer Abreu, he ended up right in the middle of the celebration.

Abreu had struck out in each of his first four plate appearances, including with the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth. When the Giants intentionally walked Ceddanne Rafaela to load them again with one out in a tie game in the ninth, Abreu had one thing on his mind.

He just needed to put the bat on the ball and get it in play. 

Abreu faced left-hander Sam Hentges and fell behind 1-2 before working the count full. He then got enough of a 95.9 mph sinker inside and off the plate to chop an 80.8 mph grounder down the first-base line.

Bryce Eldridge made a diving stop and fired home, but the one-hop throw pulled catcher Andrew Knizner off the plate just enough for Eli White to score.

The Red Sox poured out of the dugout and chased Abreu around the infield, eventually ripping the No. 52 jersey off his back.

Although the Giants were out of challenges, the play went to a crew-chief review. Boston didn’t bother waiting around for the verdict to begin celebrating. After a couple of minutes, the original call stood and the celebration started all over again.

Abreu had his second career walk-off, officially scored as a fielder’s choice RBI.

“I had a tough day today,” Abreu said. “I struck out four times. But at that moment, in that at-bat, I just tried to put the ball in play and forget about what happened early in the game.”

It was Boston’s fourth walk-off victory of the season and its first since a 13-inning win over the White Sox on Aug. 5. The Red Sox improved to 16-5 in their last 21 games at Fenway and own baseball’s best record since the All-Star break at 24-11.

Before Abreu finished it, the Red Sox had to put together the kind of rally that had eluded them all night.

Caleb Durbin opened the ninth by drawing a four-pitch walk from Dylan Smith. San Francisco went to Hentges, who hit pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones with his second pitch.

After Andruw Monasterio made the first out, White dropped an RBI single into shallow center to finally get Boston on the board.

Then Nick Sogard delivered his biggest hit of the night.

Sogard ripped a game-tying double off the Green Monster, sending Fenway into a frenzy and continuing what has quietly become an impressive stretch for the switch-hitter. 

“That was cool,” Sogard said. “I’ve had a few at-bats kind of late in the game when the crowd’s going like that, and that’s probably the biggest hit I’ve had in one of those moments.”

During his five-game hitting streak, all from the leadoff spot, Sogard is 9-for-19 with three doubles, a home run and five walks.

The Giants intentionally walked Rafaela after Sogard’s double, setting the stage for Abreu.

It was quite the reversal from the previous inning when Mickey Gasper doubled and Sogard walked to begin the eighth before Rafaela singled to load the bases with nobody out. Smith entered throwing high-90s fastballs and somehow escaped without allowing a run.

He struck out Abreu and Willson Contreras before Adley Rutschman lined out hard to center.

The Red Sox were still within two runs in the ninth in large part because of their defense.

Durbin made another Gold Glove-caliber play in the eighth, ranging to his left and making a diving stop on Osleivis Basabe before firing to second for a force out. The play likely saved a run when Jung Hoo Lee followed with a single that put runners at the corners.

In the ninth, rookie Wyatt Olds allowed a single and issued two walks as San Francisco loaded the bases with two outs. Eldridge hit a knuckling liner toward second, but Sogard made a diving catch to end the threat and keep the deficit at 2-0.

“The dive might have been a little dramatic,” Sogard said. “Just knuckling off the bat, so just making sure I could get it.”

“That could put the game away right there,” added Chad Tracy. “That was huge. There were a handful of turning point plays. That was obviously one of them.”

Olds wound up getting his first major league win in just his third appearance with the Sox.

Patrick Sandoval also did his part to keep Boston within striking distance.

It didn’t look promising early after Giants shortstop Willy Adames crushed a 403-foot solo homer in the first inning before Knizner, who played 21 games for Worcester earlier this season, launched a 394-foot homer in the third for his first major league hit of the year.

Sandoval also had to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third. But instead of unraveling like he had in his previous two starts, Sandoval settled in and retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced.

“He bent today, didn’t break,” Tracy said. “He kept himself in the game, kept us in the game, and we were able to get it late.”

He finished with two runs allowed on five hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings, striking out six while throwing a season-high 93 pitches. It was an encouraging turnaround after Sandoval had surrendered 11 runs on 17 hits over 10 innings in his previous two outings.

Giants starter Blake Tidwell struck out the side in the first and continued rolling from there, holding Boston scoreless over 5 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old allowed only three hits and struck out seven, with the Red Sox advancing just one runner into scoring position against him.

Boston had only four hits, all singles, through seven innings.

Rutschman’s early struggles with his new club continued. He finished 0-for-4 and is now 6-for-35 (.171) with 11 strikeouts through his first 10 games in a Red Sox uniform.

Monasterio has cooled considerably, too. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and is now 7-for-43 (.163) over his last 12 games. 

With Trevor Story nearing a return from the injured list, Monasterio’s recent slide could make the decision at shortstop easier than anticipated.

There were plenty of signs of frustration before the ninth-inning turnaround.

Abreu had an opportunity to challenge a called third strike with two runners aboard earlier in the game but elected not to. The pitch would have been overturned by ABS.

Contreras summed up Boston’s night in the sixth when he softly lined out to end the inning and broke his bat in the process. Just to make sure there was no life left in it, Contreras snapped it over his leg, leaving a Red Sox batboy to collect the pieces near the foul line.

Rafael Devers continued to hear it from his former home crowd. The boos were louder than they were Friday and followed Devers throughout the night. After homering in his return to Fenway in the series opener, Devers went 0-for-4 with a walk Saturday.

For most of the night, it looked like Devers and the Giants were going to even the series.

Boston improved to 70-59 and will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon behind Jake Bennett (7-6, 3.46 ERA), who will make his first start in eight days after the Red Sox gave the rookie some extra rest.

San Francisco will counter with rookie left-hander Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who made his major league debut Wednesday in Cleveland. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET at Fenway Park.