By Tiffany Williams –
The Red Sox are back in October baseball, and they did it in the most fitting way possible—another walk-off at Fenway. Ceddanne Rafaela ripped a triple in the ninth to beat the Tigers 4-3 on Friday night, clinching Boston’s first postseason berth since 2021 and sending the crowd into bedlam.
For a club that’s lived on late-inning chaos, this was pure on-brand. It was their MLB-best 12th walk-off win of the year, tying the second-highest total in franchise history. Every time they’ve worn the “Fenway Greens” City Connects, the wins have ended in walk-offs—six times, six dramatic finishes.
Masataka Yoshida kept the Sox alive with three hits, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Jarren Duran tied it in the eighth with a clutch RBI single. Then Rafaela—already with two walk-off homers this season—added another signature moment, becoming the first Boston player since A.J. Pierzynski in 2014 to win it with a triple.
Kyle Harrison looked sharp through three innings before coughing up three runs in the fourth, but the bullpen kept Boston in striking distance. That set the stage for the late fireworks that have defined this team’s season.
Detroit, meanwhile, continued its freefall. The Tigers have lost 12 of their last 14, their September collapse dragging on despite Casey Mize delivering a solid 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts. Javier Báez and Jahmai Jones gave them an early 3-0 cushion, but their bullpen cracked, again, and the Tigers walked off the field beaten for the fifth time this year in the final at-bat.
The Sox are hot at the right time, the Tigers are stumbling, and Fenway just got its October edge back.