Trevor Story Walk-Off Continues Red Sox Dominance at Fenway Park

BOSTON — The Red Sox won Friday’s opener to a five-game home stand in a similar fashion to how they tied it. Roman Anthony strolled to first base following a ninth inning walk, an increasingly familiar sight atop Boston’s lineup, before Alex Bregman followed. Marlins reliever Josh Simpson threw 10 balls across 12 pitches, including plunking Jarren Duran, bringing Trevor Story to the plate for his second walk-off of the season. A slicing grounder past Miami’s Xavier Edwards that secured a 2-1 Red Sox win.

Duran reached Story first in right field before the water bottles did. The hit continued a comeback season for Story following three down years. He’s tied for 18th in MLB with 76 RBI after his decisive one on Friday. It also marked his 119th game this season following 26 last year and 43 in 2023 after reaching only 94 in 2022.

“It’s fun,” Story told CLNS Media in the clubhouse after. “The perspective of baseball for me has changed a lot over the last few years. Just being able to enjoy playing and being able to be with my teammates and be present … in the good times, the bad times. I think that’s what it’s more about, and also enjoying it with my family too. It’s a good time. The injuries pile up and you love the game so much, you love playing it, you want to be successful. I came here to do a job … I feel like I’m doing a better job of that now. But it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun.”

Story became the first Sox hitter to reach base with a single in the fifth off Marlins starter Sandy Alcántara, a struggling former Cy Young winner who regained his form at Fenway following his comeback from Tommy John surgery. Alcántara mowed down the first 12 Boston he faced while defending a 1-0 lead Miami built with a pair of third inning doubles off Lucas Giolito. After Bregman worked a seven pitch at-bat in the first inning, 14 straight Sox hitters only saw five or fewer pitches against Alcántara, who reached 96-98 miles per hour regularly while working in off-speed action often. Story stole second and nearly scored on a hard two-out liner by Abraham Toro that Miami’s Graham Pauley snagged at third.

One inning later, Ceddanne Rafaela fouled off four of them in a row to lead off the sixth inning. Alcántara got there in only 56 pitches (11.2/inning), and needed 10 to down Rafaela on strikes, who fouled off Alcántara’s fastball, changeup and curveball back-and-forth four more times as the crowd stood to their feet acknowledging his effort. Anthony followed by taking eight pitches, drawing three balls for only the second time by a Sox hitter to that point and walking. Bregman doubled Anthony in to tie the game, and the Sox knocked Alcántara out of the game by forcing him to throw 30 pitches in the sixth.

“That guy reminded everybody how good he is,” Alex Cora said. “Good fastball, changeup, breaking balls. He was tough, tough. Trevor got that hit, but the at-bat of the day was Ceddanne’s. That was a long at-bat grinding with him. Of course, he didn’t like the result, but it set everything up for the rest of the inning. Roman did what he’s been doing and Alex put the ball in play. If you’re gonna circle an at-bat from the game, it was Ceddanne’s. It put them a bad spot, he made a lot of pitches and they had to take him out.”

• The Red Sox broke a tie with three other teams to become the league-leader in walk-off wins (10). They’ve also lost 11 road games on walk-offs, compounding a strong split between their home and road results. Boston is 40-22 at Fenway Park. Only Milwaukee and Toronto have better marks across the league.
• Anthony scored from first base on a hit-and-run that tied the game in the sixth inning: “He’s fast. He puts pressure on (third base coach Kyle Hudson) to make decisions, very similar to (Andrew Benintendi) in 2018. He’s on top of you when you have to make a decision, because they go. They’re fast. That’s why Hudi said, man, it’s been a while (since) a guy has put pressure on me to make decisions.”
• Giolito stranded five Marlins in scoring position and left two on third base around the lone run he allowed that happened in part because of a bad break Wilyer Abreu took on Edwards’ third inning liner. Edwards scored on a double by Kyle Stowers in the following at-bat. Giolito struck out Agustín Ramírez with a 3-2 slider and escaped the inning. Giolito worked around baserunners in each inning, Carlos Narváez calming him with a mound visit after a two-out walk in the fifth before he made the final out with two pitches. He worked efficiently, throwing 3.4 pitches per batter, 14.5 per inning and 68.5% for strikes.
• Giolito received a no decision after exiting in the seventh with one out following a Dane Myers single. Justin Wilson relieved him with an immediate inning-ending double play. Giolito finished 6.1 IP with seven hits allowed, one earned run and one walk while striking out five. He’s 8-2 this season with a 3.63 ERA, reached 106.2 innings in 19 starts and has emerged as one of the rotation’s rocks alongside Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello after missing 2024 due to injury: “(Narváez) and Connor (Wong) have been fantastic as far as understanding my game and how I like to pitch, being able to adjust with me,” Giolito said. “Our pitching coaches and staffs and biomechanics and all of those people were paramount in me making the adjustment. My first month back was very strange. My mechanics were messed up, and with their help, were able to make those adjustments so I could be a more consistent pitcher.”
• Wilson and Garrett Whitlock escaped the eighth after putting on one Marlins hitter on each to begin the inning. Aroldis Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth before Story walked it off. It marked Chapman’s eighth straight scoreless outing since July 23. His ERA is 1.16 in 46.2 IP, the best mark in MLB among 329 pitchers with 40+ IP.
• Bregman had high praise for Anthony hitting behind him on Friday: “I feel like he’s already one of the best hitters in the league and he has the ability to be the best. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
• The Red Sox sold out their last 12 games at Fenway, their longest streak since 2018. Fans lined up across nearly the entirety of Van Ness Street until nearly midnight awaiting player departures following the win.
  
• The Red Sox continue their series with Miami on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. Quantrill (4-9, 5.09 ERA) starts for the Marlins against Bello (8-6, 3.25 ERA). Boston trails Toronto in the AL East by 5.0 games, Seattle by 1.0 game for the first wild card spot and leads the Yankees by 1.5 games for the second. Cleveland is 3.0 games behind the Red Sox for the final wild card spot.