After winning the NBA Championship, the Boston Celtics were on hand at Fenway Park to watch the Boston Celtics take on the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, and they got their money's worth.
The Red Sox rallied from a 6-2 deficit to walk it off in the ninth on a Jarren Duran single that scored Ceddanne Rafaela. And they broke a brutal streak with the win.
Entering tonight, the Red Sox had lost 91 straight games when trailing by multiple runs in the 8th inning or later (was the longest active skid in MLB). The active record is now held by the Blue Jays (58 straight defeats), per Sportsnet Stats.
The Red Sox have won 10 of their last 12 games to move to 43-36 on the season.
One week to the day after they finished a five-game NBA Finals beatdown of the Dallas Mavericks, the Celtics brought their championship trophy to Fenway Park.
One by one, team owners, officials, coaches, and players were introduced, with particularly enthusiastic receptions for Joe Mazzulla, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and finally, for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who emerged together — with Tatum holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Tatum, Brown, Horford, Porzingis, Derrick White, and Mazzulla all threw out first pitches.
Red Sox's Duran played hero, acts as leader
Earlier this week, Duran said the team got honest with themselves last week and re-focused on the goal at hand.
“We had a little bit of a talk just to make sure, like, ‘Hey man, I know we played two tough teams, but we just gotta keep rolling,” Duran said. “Our season doesn't end just because we played two good teams and won. So, we just got to keep rolling, and I was really proud of the way we played.”
“We just kept doing our thing, especially coming in so late and then sleeping and having to play again,” Duran continued. “But we did a really good job and I'm proud of this team.”
Duran had played in all 77 games for the Red Sox before getting a day off from manager Alex Cora over the weekend. Cora spoke to the media before Saturday afternoon's game where he talked about giving Duran a rest to the result of an NSFW response from the outfielder.
Cora would reveal to the media that he called Duran to his office and told him that before Boston takes on the Cincinnati Reds Saturday, that he will get a day off. He said that Duran told him to “f*** off” in a joking manner.
“I joked with him last night. I called him into the office (after Friday’s game) and I say, ‘Hey, you’ve got an off day tomorrow,’” Cora said before the Red Sox look to bounce back Saturday against the Reds. “He’s like, f*** that.’ He knows it.”
