Boston’s Travis Shaw follows through on this walk-off grand slam in in the 11th inning Monday at Fenway Park. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
BOSTON — Travis Shaw hit a game-ending grand slam in the 11th inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 on Monday.
Shaw, who entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth, drove a 3-2 pitch off Dennis Santana (2-3) over Boston’s bullpen. He flipped his bat and looked at the dugout before rounding the bases and getting mobbed at the plate.
It was Shaw’s first hit since he was claimed off waivers from Milwaukee on Aug. 15. He began his big league career with the Red Sox in 2015.
“It’s pretty cool,” Shaw said. “As the years have gone, you think there’s a lot of things that have happened in my career and you think about moments and things that surprise you, and something like that happens.”
Asked if he knew it was gone, he said: “Yeah, I knew that was gone. That was a good one.”
Alex Verdugo and Hunter Renfroe also homered for Boston in the makeup of Sunday’s scheduled game, which was postponed due to the approach of Tropical Storm Henri. Garrett Whitlock (5-2) worked 2 2/3 innings for the victory.
The Red Sox committed a season-high five errors and had two baserunners cut down in a 10-1 loss on Saturday night. Manager Alex Cora called that game “embarrassing” and “not acceptable.”
On Monday, Shaw helped them overcome a blown lead in the ninth.
“Huge hit,” Cora said. “That was a huge swing for us.”
The Rangers have the majors’ fewest wins since the All-Star break at 8-26. Andy Ibanez hit a tying two-run double in the ninth against Matt Barnes.
“There was some good, obviously,” Rangers Manager Chris Woodward said. “We fought, we battled, we didn’t quit. We made some mistakes I thought were critical to us (trailing) before the double.”
The Red Sox wasted seven dominant innings by Nathan Eovaldi, who allowed an unearned run and four hits.
The Red Sox had a pregame players meeting.
“We had a meeting. That stuff stays in the clubhouse,” Eovaldi said. “We were able to get some things off our chest.”
Barnes loaded the bases before Ibanez’s drive to right-center bounced into Boston’s bullpen. Whitlock relieved and struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single through the shortstop hole against Whitlock scored Yonny Hernandez in the 10th, but Rafael Devers hit an RBI double into the triangle in center, tying it with two outs in the bottom half.
Verdugo drove a first-pitch curveball from Kolby Allard into Boston’s bullpen for a two-run shot in the second. It was Verdugo’s 12th homer, matching his career best.
“I definitely didn’t feel as in sync as I did in the last few,” Allard said of his start on seven days’ rest.
Renfroe made it 3-1 with a solo shot in the sixth, sending a drive into the Green Monster seats.
Boston committed two errors in the fifth: Third baseman Devers juggled the ball before dropping it trying to throw to first, and first baseman Bobby Dalbec had a throw tick off his glove.
Allard gave up three runs in six innings.
NOTES: Kyle Schwarber played left for the Red Sox for the first time since being acquired from the Nationals at the trade deadline. He hadn’t played in the field since straining his right hamstring on July 2. He made a heads-up play in the fifth, covering second when the Rangers tried a safety squeeze that turned into a 1-2-5-7 double play after Hernandez bunted right back to Eovaldi and headed for second with a baserunner already there. … The Red Sox reinstated INF Christian Arroyo from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Worcester and optioned INF Jonathan Arauz there. Arroyo had been sidelined by a strained left hamstring.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
