Final: Red Sox 9, Mariners 8 (F/10) - Story drives in three runs and walks off game for Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox wrap up August with a walk-off victory against the Seattle Mariners.

Boston faced trouble from their bullpen midway through the contest, but clutch late-inning hitting from Roman Anthony and Trevor Story kept the Red Sox victorious. After recording a two RBI double in the eighth inning, Story smashed a walk off hit in the 10th inning for his third RBI.

The Mariners and Red Sox traded runs in the first inning. After a leadoff double from Randy Arozarena, Julio Rodríguez picked up an RBI double against Payton Tolle. 

Boston responded with a solo home run from Mickey Gasper, who stays hot at the plate despite his short demotion to Triple-A. And in the next inning, the Red Sox took their first lead with a two-run home run from Jarren Duran. 

Arozarena continued to give Tolle trouble, finishing his night going 4/5 at the plate. In the third inning, Arozarena smashed a solo home run over the Green Monster, and in the fifth inning, the left fielder tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth.

Boston responded with a stronger fifth inning. Connor Wong lead off the inning with an infield hit to third base, and Anthony followed with a right field double to put runners in scoring position. And two at-bats later, Ceddanne Rafaela cleared the bases with an two-run RBI base hit to center field.

Despite facing trouble, Tolle continued to pitch until the sixth, getting the first two outs of the inning. Chad Tracy turned to Tyron Guerrero out of the bullpen, and the flamethrower righty struggled. Guerrero allowed his first four hitters to reach base, including two-run RBI hits to Arozarena and Dominic Canzone to give the Mariners a 7-5 lead.

Boston's bullpen struggles continued as Erik Miller allowed a leadoff solo home run to Cal Raleigh in the seventh. 

Down three runs in the eighth, Boston clawed its way back to bring the game to a one run score. Nick Sogard and Caleb Durbin recorded back-to-back singles, and with two outs, Story scraped a double off left field to score both runners.

Andres Munoz looked to complete a four-out save, but the Red Sox were able to send it into extras. Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodríguez failed to make a diving catch on a sharp hit by Anthony, and it put the tying run at third base for Boston. With one out, Anthony tagged up from third on a sac fly RBI from Rafaela.

Aroldis Chapman delivered a scoreless appearance for the Red Sox in the 10th inning, retiring the side and striking out two batters. And with the bases loaded, Story drilled the game-winning hit into the left field gap to pull off an unprovable victory for the Red Sox.

Boston will continue its series with the Mariners tomorrow at 6:45 p.m.

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WHO: Red Sox (74-63) vs Mariners (64-73)
WHEN: 6:45 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston
SERIES TO DATE: (0-0), (2-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.09 ERA) vs. RHP George Kirby (9-10, 4.02 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Roman Anthony (L) DH
Mickey Gasper (S) 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) CF
Wilyer Abreu (L) RF
Nick Sogard (S) 2B
Caleb Durbin (R) 3B
Jarren Duran (L) LF
Trevor Story (R) SS
Connor Wong (R) C

SP Payton Tolle

MARINERS

Randy Arozarena (R) LF
Dominic Canzone (L) DH
Julio Rodríguez (R) CF
Cal Raleigh (S) C
Josh Naylor (L) 1B
Taylor Ward (R) RF
Cole Young (L) 2B
Weston Wilson (R) 3B
J.P. Crawford (L) SS

SP George Kirby

WHAT'S UP

The Boston Red Sox return for a three game series against the Seattle Mariners.

Boston placed Contreras on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and recalled Mickey Gasper from Triple-A one day after sending him down.

Sonny Gray pushes his next start back to Saturday instead of Tuesday. “I feel fine,” said Gray. “I think it’s just (a matter) of taking a few days, getting my body recovered, fully recovered and that was it. I feel really good. About a month ago, we talked about it and we talked about, ‘Let’s re-evaluate when we get to here,’ so that’s what we did and just made the decision to take a couple of days."