Xander Bogaerts polished off the Red Sox’ 10-inning, 6-2 victory over the Blue Jays in dazzling fashion on Saturday, crushing a Chris Rowley fastball to dead center field for a walk-off grand slam:
It wasn’t exactly Bogaerts’ first slam of the year -- he checked that box twice in April alone -- but it marked the club’s first walk-off grand slam since Rico Brogna did it against the Devil Rays in August 2000. In fact, this has been a remarkably grand slam-filled season for the Red Sox so far; according to ESPN Stats & Info, they’ve racked up nine slams in the first four months of the season, just two shy of the all-time record they established in 2005.
The walk-off homer capped a wild game for the Red Sox, one in which they took an early lead with J.D. Martinez’s league-leading 29th home run, lost Eduardo Rodriguez to a right ankle sprain, and sent the game to extras with a last-minute RBI double from Jackie Bradley in the ninth. They’ve now taken the lead in the four-game series, 2-1, and will go for the win on Sunday afternoon when southpaw Brian Johnson takes on Blue Jays’ right-hander Marcus Stroman at 1:05 PM EDT.