The Boston Red Sox Friday, August 23, 2019

* The Boston Globe Facing a lefty no problem for Red Sox’ Brock Holt Alex Speier Brock Holt can hit lefties. The Red Sox utility infielder has a compact swing and hand/eye coordination that allows him to make solid contact regardless of the handedness of opposing pitchers. For his career, he has a slightly higher average (.273 to .271) and on-base percentage (.354 to .336) against lefthanders than righthanders. This season, however, his opportunities to face lefties have dwindled. Entering Thursday, he had stepped to the plate just 24 times against southpaws, posting a .211/.333/.263 line — albeit with four walks and just one strikeout. With righthanded hitters Eduardo Nunez (before his release) and Michael Chavis (before landing on the injured list) offering the prospect of greater thump against lefties, Holt had received few opportunities against them. But on Thursday — one day after manager Alex Cora elected to use Chris Owings (whose 56 percent strikeout rate against lefties this year is the highest in big league history) as a pinch hitter for Marco Hernandez rather than Holt — Cora let Holt bat against Royals lefthander Richard Lovelady with runners on first and second in the 10th inning of a 4-4 game. Holt rewarded the decision, drilling a slider down the left field line for a single, the second walkoff hit of his career and the first in more than five years. Red Sox need just 12 minutes to finish off Royals “I don’t mind facing lefties. I feel like I’m comfortable against them,” said Holt. “Obviously, the more you face them, the more comfortable you are. But I’m ready whenever my name is called. I play when my name is in the lineup. It hasn’t been in there against lefties recently, but it’s not an uncomfortable feeling for me. I feel like I’m a good player and can help the team regardless of if there’s a righty or a lefty out there. So today I’m glad I was able to show that.” Holt has been taking advantage of such opportunities more often than not since his return from an odd succession of injuries at the start of the year. He opened the year by going 1 for 16 with seven strikeouts while trying to play through a cornea scratch he suffered just prior to Opening Day. He spent nearly two months on the injured list because of the eye injury followed by a shoulder impingement. But since returning to the team on May 27, Holt is now hitting .347/.413/.486 in 53 games. “We missed Brock in the early part of the season,” said Cora. “He can play second, he can pinch hit, he can play different positions. He’s a quality at-bat.” With the walkoff hit, Holt wrapped up the suspended game 2 for 3 with two walks — the 17th time in his career and first in 2019 that he’d reached base four times. Even so, his playing time of late has been limited, with Thursday marking Holt’s fifth plate appearance since Aug. 13. “I’m just trying to stay ready to play,” said Holt. “Whenever my name is called, I think that’s kind of what I’ve been doing my whole career up to this point, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do: Be ready to play and try to help the team win whenever I can.” Finely Taylored

Josh Taylor served as the bridge across time and space. The lefthanded reliever was on the mound facing Meibrys Viloria in the top of the 10th inning on Aug. 7 when the game was suspended because of rain, and he returned there — with a 2-1 count against pinch hitter Nick Dini — on Thursday afternoon. How did he stay loose and ready over the interceding 15 days? “It was tough,” smirked Taylor, “but you have to find a way to get through that adversity.” Taylor did just that, retiring Dini and two subsequent Royals in 10 pitches, then claiming his first career victory. Yet while credit for a win represented a milestone in his young career, Taylor is now a couple of months into the making of a quiet case as a potentially dominant bullpen option. After he allowed six earned runs in his first five big league innings early in the season, Taylor returned to the majors in mid-June and has overpowered opponents. In 31 appearances, he has a 1.69 ERA, 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings, and has held hitters to a .170/.242/.241 line. “He’s a guy that we count on,” said Cora. Price progresses Lefthander David Price threw a bullpen session after the completion of the game, his third since landing on the injured list because of a cyst in his left wrist. Barring a setback, he may be a consideration to start on Sunday in San Diego . . . The Red Sox clubhouse was upbeat following the 12-minute completion of the game. Third base coach Carlos Febles jumped into a pack of reporters and volunteered to start answering questions as Holt looked on with amusement and befuddlement. “I was like, ‘Why are they interviewing Carlos? He must have been fired or something,’ ” mused Holt . . . Reliever Josh Smith enjoyed the novelty of celebrating a win in which he’d spent the first nine innings (on Aug. 7) in Triple A. “I was like, ‘Am I allowed to pitch today? What are the rules?’ It was kind of crazy. I’ve never really been a part of anything like that,” said Smith. “It was like a one-inning game — like sudden-death baseball, almost like a hockey game. It was cool. It will be something I tell my son when he’s older, ‘This one time, I played a one-inning game in the big leagues — and we won.’ ” Red Sox need just 12 minutes to finish off Royals Alex Speier For one sun-splashed afternoon, nothing else mattered. The cacophony of a Red Sox season gone awry — their mediocre record, their place in the standings, the increasingly dubious claims to being involved in a pennant race, the struggles of the pitching staff, the August offensive decline, the shortcomings of execution — washed away in one liberating inning at Fenway Park. A delay of 21,018 minutes gave way to a conclusion that required just 12 minutes, the Red Sox claiming a 5-4 walkoff victory Thursday afternoon over the Royals in the 10th (and only) frame of a meeting more than two weeks in the making. Brock Holt, who delivered the winning hit by drilling a hit down the left-field line off lefthander Richard Lovelady, punctuated the victory after rounding first base by sprinting away from his teammates and sliding exuberantly across home plate, the sort of display so rarely on display this year. It required unique circumstances to produce it. “That was probably the most fun I think probably all of us have had playing baseball,” said Holt. The Red Sox and Royals met at 1:05, a rendezvous memorable for the interminable wait for its arrival and the brevity of its duration. The clubs had played to a 4-4 tie on Aug. 7 before a deluge forced the tarp onto the field at 10:47 p.m., a storm that would not allow the teams to resume play that night.

The Royals left Fenway after midnight on Aug. 8 after what was supposed to be the conclusion of their first and only series of the season at Fenway. The deadlock — suspended with Red Sox lefthander Josh Taylor on the mound and a 2-1 count to the first hitter of the inning, catcher Meibrys Viloria — necessitated a brief return to Boston by the Royals, who arrived from Baltimore early on Thursday morning. The return trip represented a novelty. The Red Sox hadn’t taken part in a suspended game that was resumed more than one day after the start of the contest since 1968. Strange playing conditions on Thursday inspired strange thoughts. “On the way to the ballpark,” confessed Red Sox manager Alex Cora, “it crossed my mind at one point, the way things have been going, we might play 16 innings now.” Yet there was also a chance of a contest that would last mere minutes. The Red Sox, mindful of the awkwardness of playing baseball in a nearly empty setting, opted to open the park and turn a potentially funereal atmosphere into a festive one. Fans ages 18 and under could secure free entry; those over that age could purchase admission for a meeting that might last as little as four batters for $5, an amount that would be donated to The Jimmy Fund. The crowd responded to both the uniqueness of the day and the atmosphere — music playing almost all the way to the first pitch — with energy and enthusiasm. An impressive 16,441 ticketed customers (1,301 of them returning with tickets from Aug. 7, another 9,125 paying attendees, and 6,015 beneficiaries of freebies) generated a buzz. “The best crowd of the season,” said Sox third base coach Carlos Febles. Still, the Red Sox could not ignore that they had a task at hand. The teams had tweaked their rosters since the first nine innings, creating opportunities for players to participate who weren’t in the big leagues on Aug. 7. With the game in extra innings, every play featured a degree of urgency. “It was kind of a do-or-die, it felt like,” said Holt. “If we got three outs, all we needed was a run, and that’s kind of a cool feeling knowing you can end it in one inning.” Taylor returned to the mound for the Sox. Kansas City elected to send righthanded pinch hitter Nick Dini to the plate in place of the lefthanded Viloria, a move that Taylor admitted caught him off guard. Yet when Dini swung at a 94-mile-per-hour fastball over the plate at 1:05, a rocket found the glove of first baseman Mitch Moreland for the first out of the inning. Taylor quickly followed that out with two more, a strikeout of Ryan O’Hearn and a ground out by pinch hitter Bubba Starling — a player who hadn’t been with the Royals on Aug. 7, who was replacing another player who had since been let go by the organization (outfielder Billy Hamilton). “We had to be prepared for everything. There were different guys on the roster, the possibility of bringing in a righty [to replace Taylor] right away,” noted Cora. “In the dugout, it’s like, ‘It’s the 10th inning’ — just to make sure feelings don’t get offended because I hit or run for you. It’s the 10th inning. It’s weird that it felt that way.” The Red Sox had visions of Andrew Benintendi hitting a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 10th, he instead struck out against Lovelady. Yet the wait for a winning rally proved brief, as Christian Vazquez hammered a double to center. Pinch runner Chris Owings (a member of the Royals earlier this year who was with Triple A Pawtucket on Aug. 7) replaced Vazquez. Pinch hitter Sam Travis, asked to bat for Moreland against a lefthander, was intentionally walked. With two on, the stage was set for Holt to line a slider down the line to the opposite field. When his hit landed, the crowd and the Red Sox erupted in one of the most joyous celebrations of this season.

Taylor (1-1) notched the first win of his big league career. And the Red Sox, after the disappointment of being swept over two games by the Phillies on Tuesday and Wednesday, boarded a cross-country flight to San Diego buoyed by having taken part in something memorable and refreshing in a season where such adjectives have rarely applied. “For those kids [who came to the park for free], it’s probably their first big league inning. That’s what they’re going to remember,” Cora said. “We’ve got to remind them that this is not the pace we play. Usually we play four-hour games.” Quick resolution had a bright side for Royals Nicole Yang In the visiting manager’s office Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park, Royals manager Ned Yost chuckled at a proposition he had likely never heard before: Even though his team lost, could the game’s finish be considered the best possible scenario? “Yeah,” Yost conceded. “The reality of it is yeah.” The final score of the Red Sox-Royals contest that began on Aug. 7 and concluded Thursday afternoon will be 5-4, thanks to a walkoff single by Brock Holt in the bottom of the 10th inning. Holt’s RBI came 12 minutes into the resumption of the suspended game, sending the Sox off to San Diego with a much-needed win under their belt. Although the result ultimately went in Boston’s favor, the outcome also seemingly benefited Kansas City. Yes, the continuation of the game forced an unplanned detour to Boston and voided his team’s lone off day in a 17-day stretch, but Yost seemed accepting of the circumstances. After all, an August win for the Royals, who are 32½ games back of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins, doesn’t carry much weight in the push for playoff berths. So if the team were to lose, it might as well do so in rapid fashion. The brevity allowed the Royals to catch an earlier flight to Cleveland, where they will begin a three-game series Friday evening. Had the continuation not been necessary, a team spokesman said, the club would have flown to Cleveland immediately following its game in Baltimore Wednesday night. Instead, the Royals had to board a plane to Boston shortly after midnight and arrived in the city around 1 a.m. Thursday. Twelve hours later, they were playing baseball. “I don’t really think there was another solution,” said Yost, shrugging. “The only other solution, for me, was just to play it after the season ended. That would make more sense to me than having to disrupt them flying across the country and us flying and not having off-days. “But we got it over with and it’s done.” Considering what could have happened Thursday — Red Sox manager Alex Cora said the thought of 16 innings crossed his mind — things essentially ended up being the least disruptive they could be. The Royals used only one pitcher, reliever Richard Lovelady, who threw nine pitches and faced four batters. Yost said the brief makeup inning will not impact his approach for Friday, “Not one bit.” “I didn’t have to do anything,” he said. “I mean, my pitcher, what did he last, 10 pitches?”

Catching up with Roger Clemens Dan Shaughnessy Roger Clemens is 57 years old and has me rethinking my hard-line stance against PED users when it comes to the Hall of Fame ballot. A Hall of Fame that includes Trevor Hoffman and Mike Mussina, but not Clemens, is something of a joke, is it not? The older Clemens gets, the more I want to look at his spectacular numbers (354 wins, seven Cy Youngs!) and forgive obvious, but unproven, evidence that he was using performance-enhancing drugs at the end of his illustrious career. Clemens came to little St. Peter’s Field in Cambridge Thursday to pitch in the 26th annual Oldtime Baseball Game. Facing a raft of local collegiate talent, Clemens started the game and pitched two perfect innings, fanning three. He also played first base and drove in two runs. The game was invented by sportswriter Steve Buckley during the baseball strike of 1994 and continues as one of our great, quaint local traditions, no less than L Street Brownies swimming in the ocean on New Year’s Day and the Boston Pops performing on the Esplanade on the Fourth of July. Esteemed baseball stars such as Pedro Martinez, Jim Lonborg and Oil Can Boyd have lent the currency of their fame to the Oldtime Game through the years, and Clemens came to Cambridge to pitch to college kids for the benefit of Compassionate Care for ALS patients. This is not a one-time thing for Clemens. He hasn’t lived here since he bolted for Toronto after the 1996 Sox season, but he has consistently returned to help The Jimmy Fund and other worthy causes over the last 23 summers. “I hold things dear to my heart,’’ said Clemens. “I don’t forget my childhood and how hard my mom worked. My wife, Debbie, just found out that her aunt has ALS. I’m still working with The Jimmy Fund. The Sox allow me to go out and pitch batting practice for charity in a place where I made my name. You go to the hospital and see the stress on the families. I tip my hat to the parents.’’ Clemens joined Jerry Remy and Dave O’Brien in the NESN broadcast booth during Wednesday night’s Sox loss to the Phillies, once again pledging to throw batting practice at Fenway to a big donor willing to support The Jimmy Fund and the Roger Clemens Foundation. The Rocket was brilliant in his TV appearance. And I do not say this lightly. Public commentary was never Clemens’s friend during his 13 seasons at Fenway, and he has routinely been thrashed by a local fandom still mad about him complaining about “carrying our own luggage” way back in 1988. Clemens bolted for the Jays after Dan Duquette said he was in the twilight of his career, and ultimately committed the sin of getting traded to the hated Yankees, with whom he won two World Series and regularly engaged in dustups against the Manny Ramirez/David Ortiz Red Sox. Who was the Yankees’ starting pitcher the day Martinez threw Don Zimmer to the ground in the 2003 playoffs? Roger Clemens. Who started for the Yankees the night Aaron Boone KO’d the Sox and got Grady Little fired in 2003? Roger Clemens. The Rocket has never been treated fairly by the Boston fan base, even though he is the winningest pitcher (tied with Cy Young) in Red Sox history. From 1984 to 1996, Clemens won 192 games, led Boston to the seventh game of the World Series, won three Cy Youngs, and was named American League MVP in 1986 when he went 24-4. Despite all this, the Red Sox have not retired his No. 21.

Imagine. Ortiz — The Chosen One — had his No. 34 retired on the final day of his Red Sox career. But Red Sox No. 21 is still at large, even though it has never been issued to another player. “Josh Beckett called me and he wanted to wear it,” Clemens recalled. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’ But the Sox said no to him.’’ Does Clemens hope the Sox someday retire the digit? “It’s not going to change how great I was here,’’ he said. “It was just meant to be that I’m tied with Cy Young for wins in Boston.’’ The Red Sox will tell you that Clemens’s number is not retired because Clemens is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Swell. But Johnny Pesky’s No. 6 is retired, and Pesky is not in Cooperstown. Ditto for Ortiz, who will not be eligible for the Hall for three more years (players have to be retired for five full seasons before they appear on the Hall ballot). Clemens has been on the Hall ballot for seven years, but he gets insufficient love from voters. A player needs 75 percent of the votes in order to gain admission, and Clemens has never cracked 60 percent. A player gets only 10 chances on the writers’ ballot, which means that Clemens’s final year of Hall eligibility will be Ortiz’s first year on the ballot. Anointed as Father Christmas by MLB, Ortiz is likely to sail into Cooperstown unless something unexpected surfaces in the next three years. The Ortiz-Clemens Hall ballot will be an odd collision of Sox stars. Clemens is not getting admission because he is perceived as a PED cheater. His name was mentioned 82 times in the George Mitchell report of 2007, and Clemens’s former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, made devastating accusations against him. In his defense, Clemens will tell you that he was never found guilty when the feds came after him for lying to Congress. His first trial ended in a mistrial and the second one yielded six “not guilty” verdicts. But Clemens never failed a drug test. Ortiz tested positive in 2003, but has received unanimous support from almost everyone in the game, including commissioner Rob Manfred. “I never played to make the Hall of Fame,’’ Clemens said. “My first couple of years I played to make a good living for my family. And after that, to win championships, which I was able to do. As far as Cooperstown, there’s a bunch of cool stuff of mine that is in there, and if they look at facts and do all that, they would know exactly where I stood.’’ Is it painful not to be enshrined? “No, not at all,’’ Clemens insisted. “It’s voted on, so I have zero control. I appreciate the guys that look at the facts that have a vote. It’s a shame that not everybody looks at facts. Somebody says something about you — I see you at a playground around a bunch of little kids, next thing you know, they say, ‘Is that dude a pedophile?’ Then it’s on Wikipedia and you’re a pedophile now. In my case, you’ve got one guy running around the country [McNamee] saying he made me, and we buried him in court, but that don’t count. And my name’s not on that list of 104 [positive tests from 2003], but there are some other guys whose names were on it [including Ortiz]. But I guess it’s not a problem.” Sounds painful to me. * The Boston Herald

Roger Clemens faced young and able batters in Oldtime Baseball Game Rich Thompson Roger Clemens faced live opposition to his pitch against ALS. Clemens was on the mound against a lineup of hungry young hackers in Thursday night’s 26th annual Abbot Financial Management Oldtime Baseball Game at St. Peter’s Field in Cambridge. Clemens was scheduled to pitch two innings with an optional third before moving to first base. “I’m a little older and I hope I can get it in there,” Clemens said before the game. “I thought I was going to be in there against guys more my age but I see some awful young big kids out here. “This could get interesting because I won’t have that L-screen there, that protective screen. This might not be as much fun because I throw about 50 miles per hour, but we are here and we are going to do it. “My body don’t allow me to do many things right now so I will try and finish in a position to field the ball and hopefully it won’t come back at me. That’s the only thing I worry about.” The beneficiary of this year’s fundraiser was the Compassionate Care ALS and in memory of longtime Fenway Park supervisor John Welch, who waged an inspiring battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Welch’s son Johnny, who played for St. Anselm and eight years of Independent League baseball, was the DH on the opposition. Welch was wearing a 1944 Joe DiMaggio 7th AAF uniform. “My dad never missed one of these games and he worked over at Fenway for 43 years,” said Welch. “To face Roger will be really cool and I know my dad is going to be behind me.” Clemens and his wife Debbie were in town for the Red Sox annual Jimmy Fund drive and willingly lent his name and his arm to pack the yard for a worthy cause. “Steve (Buckley) called and told me about the game and Deb and I are probably doing about 52 events a year,” Clemens said of the game’s organizer, a former Herald sports columnist. “It was a pretty cool surprise for me pulling up on this, I didn’t expect this and seeing all the guys in these old-time uniforms.” Clemens played 24 seasons in the major leagues with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros and registered 354 wins with 4,672 strikeouts. He won seven Cy Young Awards and struck out 20 batters in a game twice, against the Seattle Mariners (1986) and the Detroit Tigers (1996). Clemens and Young share the Red Sox record (192) for wins, so a bond was established across several generations. Clemens was given a tradition Red Sox uniform with his No. 21, but he would have preferred a replica Young uniform. “I kind of wish it had the single Sox on there like Cy Young wore,” Clemens said. “Next time I play in this I’m going to have them make me one with the big Sox on it. “For me, I love it because I’m tied to Cy Young forever and to have the wins with Cy Young is pretty cool.” Bentley senior first baseman Ryan Berardino made his Oldtime debut on Clemens’ side. Berardino is the grandson of Red Sox Player Development consultant and former coach Dick Berardino. Ryan wore a 1920s era Detroit Stars uniform while Dick wore current white Red Sox home gear. “I’ve known about the game for years,” Ryan Berardino said. “It’s great coming out here to play baseball for a great cause and wear some pretty awesome uniforms.”

Red Sox considering a regular “open house day” with free entry for kids Jason Mastrodonato The game still counted in the standings, but the environment Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park was unlike anything the Red Sox have seen before. With dollar hot dogs, largely reduced food prices and free tickets for children while adults could gain entry with just a $5 donation to the Jimmy Fund, the century-old ballpark was filled with people who might not otherwise get a chance to watch the most expensive team in baseball at one of the most expensive venues. “It was one of the coolest atmospheres that we’ve had here,” said Brock Holt, who hit a walkoff single 12 minutes into the suspended game to capture a 5-4 win over the Royals. “Just how many people showed up and how excited they were. The music was loud pregame and everyone was dancing and seemed to be into the game.” Watching all the children fill the park was such a success Thursday that Red Sox president Sam Kennedy was feeling confident the club one day soon could introduce an “open house day,” when kids enter free for select games on a regular basis. “Could we have an open house day, where we put aside 10,000 to 15,000 tickets just for kids on an ongoing basis free of charge? The obvious answer is yes,” Kennedy said. “There’s a market for that. We need to challenge ourselves to see if that could be a possibility. We’ve talked about that. On lower demand games you might have an opportunity to do that. It really is an investment in the future.” There were more than 16,000 folks who entered the gates (including upwards of 6,000 free tickets for children), leaving the 37,000-capacity park almost half-full with an open-seating arrangement providing a unique backdrop for players on the field. “To me, the best crowd we had the whole year,” third base coach Carlos Febles said. “They were into the game. They were loud. That’s what you need. That’s one of the reasons the guys said, ‘Let’s do this and get out of here.’” The result was a gleeful afternoon of baseball that was over in a hurry. “That’s what it’s all about,” said manager Alex Cora. “We’ve got to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game. That was fun.” Children were allowed to walk on the warning track before the game, something Josh Taylor noticed while he was warming in the bullpen. “It was cool to see the kids on the field enjoying the experience,” Taylor said. It was such a successful afternoon that the Red Sox were “flying high over it” in the front office afterward, Kennedy said. Like every MLB team, the Sox have been desperate to generate interest in a younger audience and build the next generation of loyal fans. Watching so many flock to the gates for a suspended game against one of MLB’s worst team reminded them that providing inexpensive opportunities is the best way to get families in the park. “I’ve never ever seen such a young group,” Kennedy said.” We have a lot of kids come to Fenway but it was all really young kids. There’s a big takeaway, which is young fans and families really want to be at Fenway. They support us all year long but when you have a chance to do something like today, you need to do it.”

The Sox have already been thrilled with the results of their student ticket initiative, which provides a sizeable allotment of $9 tickets to students for each game. “We see days like today as an investment into the future,” Kennedy said. “It’s not lost revenue or an expense or anything like that. It really is an investment. “One thing we thought about for years is, can you do more with kids? We always push ourselves. We’ve got the big concourse, all the activities, the $9 student tickets, a huge initiative for us. We’ve seen a lot of growth.” The obvious follow-up question is this: how do you create a product on the field that connects with the younger generation? The Red Sox play the longest games in MLB, averaging 3 hours, 23 minutes per game. Thursday’s game was over in 12 minutes, but including the first nine innings that were played on Aug. 7, the game lasted 3 hours, 48 minutes. “For those kids, it’s probably their first big league inning,” Cora said. “That’s what they’re going to remember. But we’ve got to remind them that this is not the pace we play. Usually we play 4-hour games.” The pace of play is such a problem that Holt, an eight-year veteran of the game, said he doesn’t even like to bring his son, Griffin, to the ballpark. “I mean, I don’t know what we can do,” Holt said. “Baseball is kind of a hard thing for kids to get into. Games are long and kids’ attention spans aren’t. So as a parent I’m not trying to bring my kid to a nine inning, 4-hour game. But today was fun. Today was fun. For them to kind of think of what they did today, kids get in free and lower the ticket prices and stuff, it was cool.” Now the Red Sox will try to figure out how to replicate the atmosphere on a more regular basis. “We need to be in the long term business,” Kennedy said. “We know that if we don’t make days like today available, or $9 tickets available, or have great wifi or connectivity through your cell phone signal, we’re in big trouble. We have to make the experience and product enjoyable and accessible to kids. That’s a huge part of what we’re doing here.” Red Sox win suspended game vs. Royals in 12 minutes Jason Mastrodonato A day later, Alex Cora got it right. The Red Sox suspended game against the Kansas City Royals was over in 12 minutes on Thursday afternoon, when Brock Holt hit a walkoff single off the Green Monster to give the Sox a 5-4 win. Christian Vazquez hit a one-out double, Sam Travis was intentionally walked and Cora chose to let his left-handed hitting second baseman hit for himself with a lefty on the mound. One night earlier, Cora pinch-hit Chris Owings for Marco Hernandez to gain the platoon matchup with the game on the line, but Owings struck out. This time, Cora used Owings as a pinch-runner for Vazquez and let Holt smack one off Richard Lovelady to score Owings easily. “In the dugout, it’s like, ‘It’s the 10th inning’– just to make sure feelings don’t get offended because I hit or run for you,” Cora said. “We had to pinch-hit right away for Mitch (Moreland) there. We felt like Brock, he’s going to put the ball in play.”

Holt smacked a breaking ball on the outer half straight down the line to end the game. He hasn’t gotten many chances against lefties this year, but is now 5-for-20 off them after hitting .292 last year. “I don’t mind facing lefties,” he said. “It’s not an uncomfortable feeling for me. I feel like I’m a good player and can help the team regardless of if there’s a righty or a lefty out there. So today I’m glad I was able to show that.” Holt is having a career year before he enters free agency, hitting .319 with a .835 OPS. “We missed Brock in the early part of the season,” Cora said. “He tried to play through the eye injury and it didn’t work out and he went on the IL, and he’s a guy that we missed. He can play second, he can pinch hit, he can play different positions. He’s a quality at-bat.” Taylor gets job done There was no national anthem but both managers were briefed on the ground rules before the 1:05 p.m. start of the game, which originally began on Aug. 7 but was suspended due to rain in the 10th inning. Josh Taylor went back to the mound with a 2-1 count against Meibrys Viloria, though the Royals pinch-hit Nick Dini for Viloria to get things started. Dini lined out on the first pitch after play resumed and Taylor worked a 1-2-3 10th inning, earning the first win of his career. “J.T. did an outstanding job,” Cora said. “He’s been good for us for a while. They had two righties. They pinch hit. We knew that was a possibility that was going to happen, but we’re OK with him facing lefties and righties. His stuff is playing. He’s been very precise, and he’s a guy that we count on.” Taylor was acquired from the Diamondbacks for Deven Marrero last May and has made quite the impact since being called up to the big leagues this year. In 37 innings, the 26-year-old lefty has struck out 48 batters with a 2.92 ERA. “I just started to trust myself and not try to pitch fine or on the corners and make them try to get them to miss rather than just go after hitters,” he said. Career year continues Vazquez’ 22nd double of the season was a rocket to left-center to get the Sox going in this one. Vazquez has struggled behind the plate but is having a career year at the dish with a .283 average, 18 homers and 53 RBI. “In the offseason he made some changes with his swing,” Cora said. “Sometimes I have to remind him, ‘Hey, you’re a different hitter. You’re hitting .280 and you’ve got 18 home runs and you’ve got 50-something RBI. You’re a guy that we rely on. Don’t try to hit singles to right field. Try to do damage.’ “He’s been outstanding for us. We’re very happy with the progress he’s made. Obviously defensively he’s throwing the ball well. There’s a few things he understands he needs to get better, but we’re getting a catcher the organization believed last year can help us win another World Series.” Hot dog heaven The Sox had 16,441 scanned tickets at the gate on Thursday afternoon, 15,140 of which were new tickets. More than 6,000 of them were given away free to children while adults made a $5 donation to the Jimmy Fund.

With discounted food prices including $1 hot dogs, more than 11,000 hot dogs were sold. Kids were allowed on the warning track before the game and ran the bases afterward. Nearly 4,000 children participated. * The Providence Journal Red Sox 5, Royals 4 (Final/10): Brock Holt ends suspended game with walkoff single Bill Koch It took all of 12 minutes for the Red Sox to win a baseball game that had been delayed for 15 days. Brock Holt’s single down the line in left field gave Boston a historic kind of walkoff victory over the Royals, as the hosts captured the first suspended game for the club since 2010. It’s too simple to call this a 5-4 Red Sox victory over the Royals in 10 innings. Thursday afternoon’s scene at Fenway Park was much more than that. Christian Vazquez lined a one-out double to left-center, Sam Travis was intentionally walked and Chris Owings served as the pinch runner at second base. Holt worked the count to 1-and-1 against Kansas City left-hander Richard Lovelady before slapping a liner to the base of the Green Monster. “It was probably the best outcome that we could have had today,” Holt said. “We’ll take it.” The game resumed on time at 1:05 p.m. on a warm, humid afternoon in the city. Bright sunshine poked through puffy clouds, and there was no threat of a similar deluge to the one that stopped play more than two weeks ago. Josh Taylor set down the Royals 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th, giving the Red Sox an immediate chance to record a sixth walkoff victory of the season. “Glad we could pull off a quick win for everybody,” Taylor said. “It was a good team win. It was kind of a strange situation going into it with a 2-and-1 count and all that.” The official attendance announced on that previous Wednesday night was 32,453 fans – there might have been half that total in the ballpark on Thursday. But it was a loud, kid-filled crowd lured by reduced admission and concession prices. The last time Boston completed a suspended game that didn’t resume the next day was 1968, and Hawk Harrelson cracked a grand slam to win that game for the Red Sox. “I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that’s been resumed like this,” Owings said. “We had one in the minor leagues when I was in Pawtucket that we picked up, but it was the next day.” Boston’s bullpen missed a chance to wrap up a victory in this one before play was stopped. Darwinzon Hernandez and Nathan Eovaldi were each nicked for single runs in the sixth and seventh, knotting the game at 4-4. Eovaldi was officially charged with the 23rd blown save of the season for the Red Sox. Whit Merrifield’s lined single to right halved the deficit against Hernandez in the sixth. Eovaldi was one out from escaping the seventh when Nick Lopez sent a soft bouncer past the mound and toward the middle. Holt’s dive resulted only in a deflection, as the ball caromed into short center field for a hustling RBI double. Two more innings came and went before heavy rains moved in, forcing the game to be stopped at 10:47 p.m. The two clubs waited nearly two hours before the decision was made to suspend the game until a later date. Kansas City lost an off day between road series against Baltimore and Cleveland while Boston delayed its departure to San Diego for the start of an eight-game West Coast swing.

“A lot of stuff going on in 10 minutes,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Now we get on that flight over there on a better note than yesterday. We’ll see where it takes us.” J.D. Martinez slugged a two-run homer and Xander Bogaerts grounded a two-run double prior to the suspension, giving the Red Sox what was a 4-2 lead. Eduardo Rodriguez left in line for the win after five innings, but the left-hander didn’t pitch particularly well when judging by the standard he’s set in 2019. Rodriguez required 101 pitches to record 15 outs and allowed a two-run single up the middle by Meibrys Viloria. * MassLive.com Holt hits walkoff single as Red Sox win in 12 minutes in suspended vs. Royals game from Aug. 7 Christopher Smith The Royals flew to Boston for 12 minutes of baseball. The Red Sox and Royals got three pitches into extra innings Aug. 7 before rain forced a two-hour delay and then a suspension until Thursday. It took 12 minutes to finish. The Red Sox won 5-4 on Brock Holt’s RBI single. Josh Taylor pitched a scoreless 10th inning. Christian Vazquez doubled with one out in the bottom of the 10th. Chris Owings pinch ran for Vazquez. Sam Travis then pinch hit for Mitch Moreland. He was intentionally walked. Holt singled off the Green Monster to win it. Boston Red Sox’s Brock Holt says baseball is difficult for kids to watch; ‘I’m not going to bring my kid to a 9-inning, 4-hour game’ Christopher Smith The reason the Red Sox and Royals played here Thursday is because the two clubs failed to finish a game in 3 hours, 36 minutes Aug. 7 before torrential rain poured down on Fenway Park and caused a nearly two-hour delay, then a suspension. The Red Sox and Royals knew rain was in the forecast after 10 p.m. They couldn’t speed up the game. Holt ended the resumed game in only 12 minutes Thursday. His walkoff single gave the Red Sox a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Holt raved about the atmosphere here at Fenway Park. Kids under 18 received free admission. Adults were asked for a $5 donation for the Jimmy Fund. Kids ran the bases for over an hour after Holt’s big hit. The Red Sox scanned 16,441 tickets today, including 15,140 new tickets (not original tickets from the Aug. 7 game), according to a Red Sox spokesperson. The club sold 9,125 paid tickets to adults, and almost 4,000 kids ran the bases afterward. “It was one of the coolest atmospheres that we’ve had here," Holt said. "Just how many people showed up and how excited they were. The music was loud pregame and everyone was dancing until the beginning of the game. It was a cool atmosphere to be a part of. And it just kind of goes to show how the fans are here: I mean, coming out, 1 o’clock Wednesday game. I don’t know if it would have been like that anywhere else.”

Holt was asked if there’s anything he’d like to see baseball do better to bring more kids to stadiums and generate this type of atmosphere more often. “I don’t know what we can do,” Holt said. “Baseball’s kind of a hard thing for kids. ... Games are long. And kid’s attention spans aren’t (there)— so as a parent, I’m not going to bring my kid to a 9-inning, 4-hour game. But today was fun. For them to kind of think of what did they did today and kids get in free and lower the ticket prices, it was cool. And I think that helped get people to the park. And like I said, it was a really cool, really exciting atmosphere here today." Baseball — especially the Red Sox — have a length of game issue. Red Sox games have averaged 3 hours, 24 minutes this year. That’s the highest average in the majors — and 7 minutes more than the Brewers who average the second longest games. The Red Sox have played 14 games over 4 hours this year. That doesn’t include this game, which finished in 5 hours, 25 minutes when factoring in the 1-hour, 49-minute rain delay. “The job the organization did to get all those people here today, that was pretty cool,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “You saw how quick it was. The kids around and the music and everything that went on today, that was awesome. Now kids are running the bases. And that’s what it’s all about. It’s a game and we have to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game. That was fun.” Cora said seeing so many kids at Fenway “is what it’s all about.” “It was cool,” Cora said. “They enjoyed it. They were here early. We signed a few autographs before the game. ... For those kids, it’s probably their first big league inning. And that’s what they’re going to remember. Like, ‘Wow.’ We’ve got to remind them that this is not the pace we play. Usually we play 4-hour games.” We need to remind the Red Sox and baseball: kids, probably not many adults, want to sit through 4-hour games. Speed it up. Be creative like the Red Sox were Thursday. Make it a more enjoyable product. * The Lawrence Eagle Tribune Suspended game a reminder of what makes baseball in Boston special Chris Mason It could have been an afternoon from the Twilight Zone, a 12-minute baseball game played in front of tumbleweeds at Fenway Park. Instead, the Red Sox and their fans made it one of the most memorable days of the season. Finally continuing a suspended game from August 7 — it was technically a 21,018 minute rain delay — the Sox and Royals picked things up in the 10th inning. It was a 1:05 resumption on a work day between two teams that aren't likely to make the playoffs. Though everybody knew the game could only last four batters, Fenway Park was still packed with fans, most of them young. The Red Sox turned the game into a general admission. Kids were allowed in for free, adults were asked a $5 donation to the Jimmy Fund, and Fenway Franks and an assortment of other ballpark staples were $1. Thousands and thousands of people turned up.

The seats down the first base line were all filled, the Green Monster was overflowing with fans, and there was clapping and chanting as the game resumed. This wasn't like the 7,827 that saw the Rays and Mariners play at Tropicana Field on Wednesday afternoon. Brock Holt, one of the most tenured players on the Red Sox roster, put the crowd into perspective. "It was one of the coolest atmospheres that we’ve had here," Holt said. "Just how many people showed up and how excited they were. The music was loud pregame and everyone was dancing and seemed to be into the game and it was a cool atmosphere to be a part of and it just kind of goes to show how great the fans are here. "Coming out at 1 o’clock for a Thursday game, I don’t know if it would have been like that anywhere else.” And Holt wound up the hero. Twelve minutes after Josh Taylor's first pitch — which came in a 2-1 count against a pinch hitter — Holt singled Chris Owings home, and the Red Sox had a walk-off win three weeks after the game began. Fenway erupted. Dodging teammates on the infield grass, Holt sprinted toward home plate, slid in from a strange angle, and his teammates finally caught him. The fans ate it up. "To me, the best crowd we had the whole year," third base coach Carlos Febles said. "They were into the game. They were loud. That’s what you need. That’s one of the reasons the guys said, ‘Let’s do this and get out of here.'" After the game, the concourses were still jammed with fans waiting in line for hot dogs, and kids ran the bases for over an hour after Owings touched home plate. "The job the organization did to get all these people here today, that was pretty cool," Alex Cora said. "I mean, you saw how quick it was, but the kids around, and the music and everything that went on today, that was awesome. Now kids are running the bases. That’s what it’s all about. it’s agame and we’ve got to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game. That was fun. That was fun." It's been a slog of a season for the Red Sox, nothing has come easily, but on a Thursday afternoon where the game was shorter than some renditions of "Free Bird," it was easy to be reminded of what makes baseball in Boston so special. * RedSox.com After 2-week wait, Red Sox win in 12 minutes Ian Browne That didn’t take long. But it sure was fun while it lasted. In a Fenway day unlike any other that preceded it, Brock Holt got the Red Sox a walk-off single to left on Thursday to complete a 5-4 victory over the Royals in 10 innings in the resumption of a game that was suspended due to rain on Aug. 7. Holt ended the festivities 12 minutes after play resumed with a solid smash against lefty Richard Lovelady.

“Yeah, I mean, we were trying to end it as quick as we could,” said Holt. “Losing an off-day to be here to finish this game, we’ve got a long flight to San Diego, we wanted to end it as quick as possible. It was probably the best outcome that we could have had today, I think, a [12]-minute game, so we’ll take it.” The day was sun-splashed fun for the thousands of kids who took the Red Sox up on their offer for free entry. Adults got in for $5, with all proceeds going to the Jimmy Fund. The general seating area was mostly full -- the Red Sox scanned 16,441 tickets, including more than 15,000 tickets sold Thursday -- and the crowd was enthusiastic. Boston sold more than 11,000 hot dogs at $1 a pop, and nearly 4,000 kids ran the bases after the game. “To me, it was the best crowd we had the whole year,” said third-base coach Carlos Febles, who gleefully waved pinch-runner Chris Owings around to score the winning run. “They were into the game. They were loud. That’s what you need. That’s one of the reasons the guys said, ‘Let’s do this and get out of here.’ To me, I say thanks to the fans. A day like this, they show up, it’s awesome for the players. The players were excited to have so many kids in the stands.” Before the game, fans got to walk the warning track. After it was over, the kids ran the bases. “First things first: The job the organization did to get all these people here today, that was pretty cool,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I mean, you saw how quick it was, but all the kids around, and the music and everything that went on today, that was awesome. Now kids are running the bases. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a game and we’ve got to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game. That was fun.” With so many kids around, the Red Sox acted quite youthful themselves once the game ended. As Holt’s teammates tried to mob him near second base, he spontaneously sprinted away from them and slid into home plate. “I don’t know what got into me whenever I did that,” said Holt. “I was trying to dodge the guys coming in and I saw home plate there and just went for it.” Christian Vazquez started the winning rally when he smashed a double to left-center with one out. “I was trying to get to second base and get out of here quick,” said Vazquez. “Like I said, we have a flight for six hours to San Diego. Tough to play a two-hour game and fly there and play tomorrow so we needed to be quick. It was going to be quick or going to be long, one or the other. Thank god we got it quick.” The day wasn’t so fun for the Royals, who came to Fenway during what was supposed to be an off-day between Baltimore and Cleveland. They chose to stay in Boston on Thursday night, and they will fly to Cleveland on the day of the game on Friday. If nothing else, the Royals should get a good dinner out of it in Boston. “I don’t think there really was another solution,” said Royals manager Ned Yost. “The only other solution for me was to play it after the season ended, and that would make more sense to me rather than have to disrupt them flying cross-country and us flying, and not having off-days.” It is the first time the Red Sox had a game suspended but not continued on the next day since June 13, 1968, against the Angels. Perhaps the novelty – not to mention the win – is what made it so special for the Red Sox, who improved to 68-61. “That was probably the most fun I think probably all of us have had playing baseball,” said Holt. “It was kind of a do-or-die, it felt like. If we got three outs, all we needed was a run and that’s kind of a cool feeling knowing you can end it in one inning.”

The game resumed with the teams locked in a 4-4 tie in the top of the 10th. Josh Taylor, the pitcher of record when the action was halted two weeks ago, came back out for the continuation on Thursday, and got a liner to first on the first pitch he threw to pinch-hitter Nick Dini. The lefty retired the side on just 10 pitches – not including the three he threw back on Aug. 7. In a sense, Taylor was the opener and the closer on Thursday. “It was awesome,” Taylor said. “That’s what you do it for, the fans, the kids. The kids enjoy it. It was just cool to see all of them, even early when we were warming up, it was cool to see the kids on the field enjoying the experience.” * WEEI.com The day we stumbled upon the joy of baseball Rob Bradford Charlie Berksza made history Thursday afternoon. He may have been the first Red Sox fan who attended the completion of a game that began when he wasn’t even born. Aug. 9 young Charlie came into this world (two days after the Sox and Royals were forced to stop their game in the 10th inning). Thirteen days later there he was at Fenway Park, celebrating the hometown team's previously-suspended win over Kansas City with his dad, Jay, mother, Kristy, and another first-time visitor to Fenway, his 3-year-old sister Maggie. The Berkszas lived the same sort of life so many others had on this most unorthodox of afternoons. The day was about introductions and re-introductions to the great game of baseball. “My God, baseball needs more days like this,” Jay Berksza said not too long after Brock Holt punctuated his team’s 12-minute reunion with the Royals with his walk-off single. “Imagine if they did this around MLB. Today showed me baseball still has a heartbeat, they just need to capture it with things like today. Makes me want to go play catch.” Amen. This was supposed to be little more than an inconvenience, the completion of a game neither team was really all that antsy to complete. Kansas City didn’t get to its hotel until 1:30 a.m. from Baltimore and would be flying right back out to Cleveland after whatever semblance of a thing they found at Fenway. And the Red Sox? This was cutting into what was going to be a calendar-circling off day in San Diego. It became so much more. “That was fun,” said Holt on the Red Sox Radio Network postgame show. “That might have been the funnest baseball game we’ve ever played in. … The atmosphere was so cool.” So why did this whole thing leave so many with such a unique feeling? It was, after all, going to be nothing more than a novelty. Kids get in free. Everybody else pays $5. Hot Dogs were a dollar. Before the game fans could walk around the warning track and after the youngsters could sprint around the bases. No National Anthem. I could tempt fate by parking at a two-hour parking meter. And the Red Sox could tempt fate by not holding their usual hitters’ meeting or pass along any sort of scouting report. The radio and television stations had no pregame shows. There was no pregame media access to players or managers. Not a single Kansas City reporter made the trip. Sure, it was somewhat exciting because it was somewhat different.

But we all got more than we bargained for. One clear payoff was the natural introduction of a very foreign demographic to a sport starving for its attention, the kids. Normally, a parent will attempt to try and immerse their son or daughter into Fenway Park via an ultra-expensive commitment that quickly ran thin as the game dragged on. Once the food ran out — usually around the third inning — it was time to go home. This was the problem: It was hard to show the kids the desired payoff, a final out of a Major League Baseball game. This time a total of 16,441 fans had their tickets scanned before getting a chance to see seven batters come to the plate and 12 minutes of baseball, including that final out. It was just right. How many times have got a chance to say that? Within the 603 words I had the privilege to utter alongside Joe Castiglione during the radio broadcast there were a few that actually were on target. Those were the very first relayed into the microphone after Joe set the anything-but-normal scene: “Joe I can tell you what I haven’t look forward to a baseball game in a long, long time. It’s not only because I’m sitting alongside you. It’s because this is sprint baseball. There is an excitement about having to get a run first. Everything about it is so unique.” “Sprint baseball.” This was another piece of the puzzle that made us realize how good the game can be. Every pitch was important. Each swing meant something. Strategy became a priority. And desperation hovered from the minute the fans had been kicked off the field. It was an abberation, which is unfortunate. So, where can this lead us? Maybe the games should be shortened by a few innings. Or perhaps one of these sudden death deals can be dropped in once or twice a season. Let the kids in free more often. Who knows? What we do have is the memory of Thursday. Surprise, surprise. * NBC Sports Boston Inside 12 magical minutes at Fenway Park as Red Sox, fans share unexpectedly uplifting win John Tomase Mitch Moreland wondered if anyone would show up. Brandon Workman prepared to watch a game he could not participate in by rule. J.D. Martinez dragged himself to work drained from two straight losses. And then something kind of crazy and maybe even a little magical happened. Fenway Park started filling with a crowd like no other in its history. Kids upon kids upon kids. Moms with strollers. Dads with one child on each hand and another on their shoulders. Kids in 4T Rafael Devers jerseys that won't fit by Christmas. Kids with gloves. Kids in caps. Kids of every race and nationality. Kids everywhere. They were there for a unique experience. With the Red Sox concluding a suspended game against the Royals from Aug. 7, they basically opened the park to all comers. Kids under 18 got in for free, and everyone else needed only donate $5 to the Jimmy Fund. The carnival atmosphere they created for what turned out to be only 12 minutes of baseball before Brock Holt sent the Red Sox on their way to San Diego with a 5-4 win, should give baseball some hope that the next generation of fans is not, in fact, lost.

"Dude, we said it today, it was the best atmosphere we've played in all year," Martinez said. "We were all saying it. It's crazy. Everyone was like, 'Man for real, there's a good energy in here.' Everybody noticed it. Everybody dancing, having a great time. "I was tired before I came in, and now I'm fired up. These guys got me in the mood right now." When every last turning of the stile was counted, 16,441 had entered the park for an afternoon they won't soon forget. "I asked a couple of guys, I wonder how many fans will be here today with the situation like it was, work day, middle of the day," Moreland said. "Obviously Fenway never disappoints." The Red Sox did their part, too. The strain of a long season has taken its toll on the defending champs, but for the first time in forever, the postgame clubhouse felt joyous. Players mocked Holt, the walk-off hero, for sprinting straight across the diamond to slide into home rather than be mobbed at second. "I don't know what got into me," he said. "I was trying to dodge the guys and I saw home plate I just went for it." As cameras assembled in the center of the clubhouse to interview the stars of the game -- Holt, catcher Christian Vazquez, reliever and winner Josh Taylor -- third base coach Carlos Febles strode into their midst and demanded to be interviewed. "Any questions?" he asked in mock seriousness before saluting himself for waving home the winning run. "Now we can get on an airplane, happy flight, couple cocktails – sorry, I didn't say that," Febles said. "Well, I've already said it. Get on the airplane, take a nap, and have fun in San Diego." Across the clubhouse, an incredulous Andrew Benintendi and Holt watched in disbelief. "It's exactly what it looks like," a reporter told them. "He just called his own press conference." "Sounds about right," Benintendi said. "Did he get fired?" Holt joked. Eight or so lockers away, shortstop Xander Bogaerts reflected on his own childhood in Aruba, when he was so excited to meet Braves outfielder Andruw Jones at a celebrity softball game, he asked him to sign the only item on his person. "My Sony Ericson flip phone, bro," he said with a laugh. "I was right by the dugout back at home, and he was there and I asked him to sign my phone. Those are memories I still have, and I'm 20-whatever now, and I was so young at that time, I was so in awe." The Red Sox opened the park early and let fans walk the warning track. They kept it open late, selling over 11,000 $1 hot dogs and letting kids run the bases while the stadium blasted everything from "Hey Soul Sister" by Train to "Hey Mr. DJ" by Zhane to "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities. The Red Sox kept concessions open late while families posed for photos all over the park. At one point, two little girls raced around the bases -- one wearing a yin-yang t-shirt shaped like a panda, her blonde hair in a ponytail, the other sporting dark braids and wearing a glove for the entire journey. "The kids gave us some great energy," Bogaerts said. "I was walking out to stretch and everyone was screaming like it was the World Series."

Manager Alex Cora wasn't sure what to expect. He prides himself on staying positive, but he admits wondering, "the way things have been going, we might play 16 innings." Instead they only played 12 minutes, giving the kids in attendance a lifelong memory. "We've got to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game," Cora said. "For those kids, it's probably their first big league inning. That's what they're going to remember. We've got to remind them that this is not the pace we play. Usually we play four hour games. I praise the organization for the job they did. Hopefully we can get more young fans involved with Red Sox nation and they can enjoy it." As the Red Sox prepared to catch a 2:30 bus to the airport for the six-hour flight to San Diego, they had a hop in their step. "We had a really good time," Martinez said. "The energy was amazing. We were all laughing about it. It was the perfect day. Come in, show up, play an inning, and you're done." * Bostonsportsjournal.com For a brief period at least, fun returns to Fenway Sean McAdam It was, when all was said and done, what Red Sox baseball has seldom been in 2019: affordable, quick, and ultimately, successful. It took, depending on your perspective, either 15 days or 12 minutes for the Red Sox to edge the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 in 10 innings in a game that had been suspended because of rain back on Aug. 7, and completed Thursday. After reliever Josh Taylor — who was on the mound when the game was halted better than two weeks earlier — retired the Royals in order on 13 pitches in the top of the inning, the Red Sox went to work as though they had a plane to catch. Which, of course, they did — a charter waiting to take them to San Diego and the start of an eight-game West Coast road trip. The ballpark had a festive feel to it, in part because the Red Sox had wisely slashed adult tickets to $5 — with proceeds to benefit the Jimmy Fund — and allowed kids in for free. It was the kind of atmosphere found in places like Oakland, Pittsburgh and Miami, where they often have Kids Camp Day to fill seats on hot midweek afternoons, and the sweet sounds of 10-year-olds fill the ballpark. With the bleachers almost entirely empty and hot dogs selling for $1, one fan noted: “It felt like 1966 again.” In a chaotic clubhouse, as equipment trunks and suitcases clogged what little space was available, player after player noted the energy level and the noise brought by the young fan base. Third base coach Carlos Febles, who in a comical moment, stepped, unannounced, in front of cameras and reporters to talk about his decision — a no-brainer — to send pinch-runner Chris Owings from second on a Brock Holt’s game-winning single to left, noted that the Fenway atmosphere was the best it had been all year and credited the noise level from the young fans for energizing the dugout. “That’s what it’s all about,” said Alex Cora of the high turnout of children in the stands. “It’s a game and we have to do everything possible to get the young fans involved in this beautiful game.”

In a season in which the Red Sox have averaged the longest average time-of-game and played more games over four hours than any other club, Cora experienced a momentary sinking feeling on his drive to the ballpark. “You guys know me by now,” said Cora. “I’m very optimistic. For whatever negative, I try to find a positive. (But) it crossed my mind at one point the way things have been going, we might play 16 innings (today).” Instead, it was over in a flash. Andrew Benintendi struck out, Christian Vazquez doubled, pinch-hitter Sam Travis walked, and after Owings replaced Vazquez as a pinch-runner, a ringing, opposite-field single from Holt scored Owings easily. From there, it was pandemonium on the field. The Sox celebrated wildly, as much, probably, out of relief that it took so little time. Talk about pace of play. “For those kids (in the stands),” said Cora, “it was probably their first big league inning. That’s what they’re going to remember. … We’ve got to remind them this is not the pace we play. We usually play four-hour games.” The win helped take at least some of the sting out of a desultory two-game sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies the previous two nights. If you have to make a cross-country flight, it’s better to do it fresh off a walk-off win than to dwell on a two-game losing streak. Taylor, who had been on the mound in the top of the 10th when the game was halted 15 days ago, resumed the position again Thursday afternoon, and in so doing, likely became the first pitcher in major league history to serve as both the opener and the closer in the same game. After the Red Sox’ bus had left for the ballpark, thousands of kids took turns running the bases in the sweltering weather. Families posed for photos on the field. The concession lines remained active. The only unhappy people, presumably, were the Royals, who took a detour from their last series in Baltimore, en route to their next in Cleveland, and for their efforts, got saddled with one more loss in a season already chock-full of them. Other than that, there were few complaints. ”That was fun, that was fun,” concluded Cora with a smile. Indeed it was. And how often have we been able to say that this season? * The Athletic What’s left to watch for over the final weeks of the Red Sox season? Jen McCaffrey As the losses pile up for the Red Sox, their long-shot postseason hopes continue to diminish. Mathematically, the Red Sox aren’t out of it just yet. But with Boston sitting seven games out of the final wild-card spot with 33 games left to play after Thursday’s make-up game win against Kansas City, it would take an unexpected run plus a fair amount of help to make the playoffs now.

It’s getting to the point in the season (perhaps past that point) where you’re probably not watching on a nightly basis anymore, and if even if you are, you need something to focus on rather than the disappointing season at hand. With that in mind, here are some things to watch over these final five-plus weeks: 1. Rafael Devers vying for a batting title The disappointments have been aplenty for the Red Sox this year, but Rafael Devers hasn’t been one of them. In fact, as of early August, he’s in the running for the American League batting title. Houston’s Michael Brantley leads the league with a .338 average, with the Yankees’ D.J. LeMahieu close behind at .334, and Devers third at .329. Devers’ remarkable season at the plate has him currently atop the American League in hits, doubles, and RBI. Devers has been consistent at the plate for most of the season, so there’s a chance he makes a run for the batting title in the final weeks. 2. Darwinzon Hernandez’s development Hernandez is in the midst of his fourth stint with the Red Sox this year, but this time, he’s stuck around. After two brief one-game appearances and another call-up in which he didn’t enter a game, Hernandez was brought up one final time on July 16 and has remained in the majors. In a bullpen desperate for fresh, quality arms, Hernandez worked his way up into higher-leverage situations over the past month and has flourished. The 22-year-old had made only five professional appearances out of the bullpen (one in his major-league debut in April) before entering the Red Sox relief corps in mid-July. Hernandez didn’t allow his first earned run until his 11th appearance in this most recent promotion, and though he was tagged for four runs his next time out, he’s settled down again nicely. He has an impressive 41 strikeouts in 22 1/3 big-league innings this year, though that is coupled with a troubling 19 walks. The Red Sox haven’t made a long-term decision on whether he’ll remain a reliever or return to a starting role, but either way, he’s provided a blip of promise to a thread-bare bullpen. 3. September (or maybe even August) promotions There will surely be September call-ups when rosters expand, but if the downward spiral accelerates, there might even be a few prospects who get the call in these final days of August. Bobby Dalbec and Tanner Houck could be among the new names that land in Boston over the final two months. Dalbec was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket after the trade deadline, where he’s hit .328 with a .909 OPS in 17 games. In 105 games for Double-A Portland, Dalbec hit .234 with an .825 OPS, 15 doubles and 20 homers. Houk arrived in Pawtucket just after the All-Star break and, like Hernandez, was moved from a starting to a relieving role. In 12 appearances in Pawtucket, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 17 innings. The Red Sox have already fielded six players who made their major-league debuts this year in Hernandez, Michael Chavis, Josh Taylor, Mike Shawaryn, Trevor Kelly and Travis Lakins. 4. Speaking of Chavis He won’t win AL Rookie of the Year, but he has had one of the better full seasons for a highly touted Red Sox rookie in recent memory. Chavis joined the team out of necessity in late April when Dustin Pedroia went back on the injury list. At the time, the club was thin in infield depth and desperate for any kind of spark. He paid dividends immediately and has largely held his own throughout the season. Boston has typically promoted its top position-player prospects midseason, as they did with Mookie Betts, Devers, Andrew Benintendi and Christian Vazquez in recent years. Blake Swihart was the last top prospect

promoted at the beginning of a season when he debuted in early May 2015. Swihart spent most of the 2015 season with the Red Sox, hitting .274 with a .712 OPS over 309 plate appearances in 84 games. Before he landed on the disabled list with an AC joint sprain earlier this month, the rookie hit .254 with 18 home runs and a .766 OPS in 95 games. He should be back sometime in the next few weeks. If nothing else, watching how Chavis finishes his rookie year will be worthwhile. 5. Dombrowski on the hot seat President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made all the right moves in 2018. But following the World Series win, he didn’t bolster the bullpen over the winter and his lone addition as the trade deadline approached was starter Andrew Cashner, who hasn’t provided as much stability as hoped. Dombrowski’s offseason moves included re-signing Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi, both of whom have had limited impact due to injury this year. He extended Chris Sale in the spring after a season in which Sale missed time due to injury, and Sale floundered this year before ultimately succumbing to a season-ending elbow issue. Dombrowski’s work on the Bogaerts extension seems like the only move that was made with some foresight. Underachieving teams need a “fall guy.” Some might point to manager Alex Cora, but Dombrowski has come under quite a bit of fire for not putting the Red Sox in the best position to succeed. It’s unlikely he’ll be fired before the end of the season, despite the fact he joined the organization around this time four years ago, when the club fired Ben Cherington in early August 2015. Nevertheless, the narrative around his tenure is one to watch over the next few weeks. 6. The wild-card standings, technically The Red Sox currently sit seven games back of the second wild-card spot in the AL. Making up that kind of ground isn’t unheard of, but with the way the team has been playing, it seems virtually impossible. Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Oakland all lurk ahead of them in the wild card standings. They still have a four-game series left against Tampa, offering at least some chance to make up some ground there, but even if they pass the Rays, they’d require a lot of other help to vault one of the other two teams. * The Kansas City Star Six quirky notes from Royals’ 5-4 loss to Red Sox in completion of suspended game Pete Grathoff Depending on your point of view, the Royals’ 5-4 loss to the Red Sox, which was completed Thursday in Boston, went fast. Or really slow. The Royals returned to Boston to complete a game that was suspended on Aug. 7. It was tied in the top of the 10th inning, and the Red Sox scored a run in their half of the frame and won 5-4 at Fenway Park. So, a little less than 15 days after first pitch, the game ended. Here are six things to know about the completion of the suspended game: 1. It took just 12 minutes to finish the game. The Royals went down in order in the top of the 10th inning. The gates opened at Fenway Park two hours before the game resumed. 2. Chris Owings, who started the season with the Royals, scored the winning run. Owings pinch ran for Christian Vazquez, who hit a one-out double against Richard Lovelady. After Sam Travis was intentionally walked, Brock Holt singled, scoring Owings. After being released by the Royals on June 4, Owings signed

with the Red Sox. He was at Triple-A until being recalled by the Red Sox on Aug. 11, four days after the game started. 3. Meibrys Viloria was at the plate when the game was suspended but Nick Dini pinch-hit for Viloria on Thursday. Dini was called up from Triple-A Omaha on Aug. 8, one day after the game started. 4. Brock Holt celebrated his winning hit by sliding across the plate. What’s unusual about that? Holt took an, uh, unusual path to the plate. 5. Fox Sports Kansas City wasn’t expecting to return to Boston, so it used the feed from the New England Sports Network. 6. The Royals’ loss is officially on Aug. 7, which means they lost 10 of 11 games from July 29 to Aug. 9. * Associated Press Wait for it: Holt, Red Sox win game from Aug. 7 Brock Holt helped the Red Sox make quick work of the Kansas City Royals in a victory that was two weeks in the making. Holt hit an RBI single with one out in the 10th inning as Boston beat Kansas City 5-4 on Thursday to complete the weather-suspended game that began Aug. 7. "We wanted to end it as quick as possible," said Holt, who hopped on a flight to San Diego with his teammates after the game. "It was probably the best outcome we could have had today." The original contest was halted after a 1 hour, 49 minute-rain delay early on Aug. 8 with the score tied 4-4 and nobody out in the top of the 10th inning. Royals catcher Meibrys Viloria was facing a 2-1 count against Red Sox reliever Josh Taylor. Play resumed 14 days, 14 hours and 18 minutes later when Taylor (1-1) lobbed a ball to Nick Dini, who pinch hit for Viloria and lined out to first base. "It's weird, especially when I was anticipating facing a lefty (Viloria) and then they bring in a righty (Dini)," Taylor said. Taylor struck out Ryan O'Hearn and pinch hitter Bubba Starling grounded out to end the Royals' inning. Starling took the spot of nine-hole hitter Billy Hamilton, who went 2 for 4 with a strikeout on Aug. 7 but was designated for assignment on Aug. 16. Christian Vazquez doubled to center field after Andrew Benintendi struck out looking to lead off Boston's 10th. Richard Lovelady (0-3) intentionally walked pinch hitter Sam Travis before Holt singled on a line drive to left field to score Chris Owings, who was pinch running for Vazquez. The official time of game was 3:48, with only 12 minutes being played Thursday. "The way things have been going, (I thought) we might play 16 innings," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose team lost 14 of 22 coming in. "But I'm glad Christian put a good swing and then Brock put a good swing." Viloria's two-run single in the third inning on Aug. 7 gave Kansas City a 2-0 lead. J.D. Martinez tied it with a two-run homer in the fourth and Xander Bogaerts' two-run double made it 4-2 in the fifth.

Whit Merrifield singled in a run in the sixth and Nicky Lopez doubled in the seventh to knot the score at 4. Play was eventually stopped at 10:47 p.m. and the game was suspended at 12:36 a.m. With Kansas City nearly 30 games out of a playoff spot, manager Ned Yost suggested after the suspension that the teams wait until the end of the season to see if completing the game was necessary. "That's the smart thing to do," Yost said on Aug. 8. Before Thursday, Boston's most recent suspended game was April 16, 2010, at home against Tampa Bay and resumed the following day. Kansas City's last suspended game, an Aug. 31, 2014, home contest versus Cleveland, was completed that Sept. 22. NO DAYS OFF Both teams forfeited an off day to finish the game. The Royals flew in from Baltimore on Wednesday night ahead of a weekend series in Cleveland. The Red Sox already were home after losing on back-to-back days to Philadelphia. FREE BASEBALL Fans under 18 were allowed into Fenway Park for free and a $5 admission fee for adults was to be donated to the Jimmy Fund. Early arrivers were allowed to walk around the warning track on the field and concessions were sold at a discounted price. JIMMY FUNDED The 18th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon took place Tuesday and Wednesday and featured the stories of cancer patients, doctors and researchers during both broadcasts. A two-day total of $3,471,104 was raised to support nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. TRAINER'S ROOM Royals: RHP Jake Newberry was placed on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation before the game. RHP Kyle Zimmer was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. . RHP Jesse Hahn (UCL sprain in right elbow) began a rehab assignment with the Arizona League Royals on Wednesday. Red Sox: LHP David Price (left wrist cyst) threw another bullpen session after the game. Cora said the team would decide on a course of action afterward. UP NEXT Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (8-11, 4.78 ERA) seeks his ninth straight start of at least six innings when Kansas City opens a three-game series Friday in Cleveland. Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (14-5, 4.10) makes his first career start against the Padres as Boston begins a three-game set Friday.