Ceddanne Rafaela sent a line drive deep to center field, and Romy Gonzalez hesitated between first and second to make sure it wasn’t caught.
The rest of the Boston Red Sox didn’t bother waiting.
Streaming out of the dugout to greet Gonzalez when he circled around to home plate with the winning run, the Red Sox celebrated their return to the postseason Friday night after a 4-3 walk-off victory over the skidding Detroit Tigers. Another cluster gathered around Rafaela at third.
Boston (88-72) moved two games ahead of Detroit and three games ahead of Houston (85-75) in the race for the last two American League wild-card spots.
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The Red Sox will play the best-of-three first round on the road, at New York, Toronto, Cleveland or Detroit.
“The most important thing: We’re in,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said in his office, across the hall from the clubhouse where his players were showering each other with sparkling wine and beer. “We just celebrate tonight, and you know, we’ll see where we are tomorrow.”
Boston could have clinched a playoff berth even with a loss if Houston had also lost. Ace Garrett Crochet, who is expected to start Game 1 of the wild-card round, said there were no plans for the team to hang around Fenway Park to celebrate if the Angels beat the Astros.
“I didn’t have losing on my mind at all. I was focused on today and the game that we were playing,” Crochet said. “We’re handling the task at hand and controlling what we can control.”
The Red Sox had missed the postseason for three straight seasons. They have not gone four years in a row missing the playoffs since 1985. Their 2021 run to the AL Championship Series had been their only postseason appearance since their 2018 World Series title.
“We didn’t come here to play only 162. We came here to win the World Series,” Cora told his players in the clubhouse before uncorking the first bottle of sparkling wine. “Let’s f—ing go!”
Boston trailed 3-0 in the fourth inning but made it 3-2 in the seventh on Rafaela’s double that went off the top of the Green Monster. The Red Sox tied it in the eighth on Jarren Duran’s RBI single, and then Gonzalez singled with one out in the ninth.
Rafaela hit a 1-0 pitch to straightaway center. Center fielder Parker Meadows leaped at the wall but could not get the ball, and it bounced toward right field.
The rally set off a celebration in sold-out Fenway Park as players returned to the field in their “October Baseball” T-shirts and posed for a team picture in front of the Green Monster.
“I’ve got nothing but belief in this group,” said rookie Roman Anthony, whose injury stalled the playoff run, though he has a chance to return in October — if his teammates can keep it going long enough. “I’m trying to stay positive and be the best cheerleader I can be.”
Cora said he was pleased to clinch with two games remaining so the Red Sox can get their pitching lined up for the three-game wild-card series that begins Tuesday. Lucas Giolito will no longer pitch Sunday so he can start Game 2.
“It’s important to take care of some guys,” Cora said. “The pitching staff, we have to make sure we’re on point going into next week.”
It was the first time in at least a century that the Red Sox clinched a postseason berth with a walk-off win, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. All six of the team’s victories in its Green Monster alternate jerseys this season have been by walk-off.
“I said, ‘Hey, we’re wearing the green jerseys. You know what that means,'” Crochet said in the Boston clubhouse. “And ultimately, Rafaela delivered.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
