I’ll say it again: has a last-place* team ever been this much fun to watch?

Let’s get right to it. With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 8th, the Red Sox were trailing the Rays 6-4. Jackie Bradley Jr. got hit by a pitch, Mookie singled, and Pedroia singled to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who inexplicably elected to try and throw Pedey out at first instead of making the short throw to 3rd to cut down Bradley. That brought up Xander Bogaerts with the bases loaded and two outs. Rays’ reliever Brandon Gomes used three sliders and only one fastball to get the count to 2-2. On the 5th pitch of the at-bat Gomes went back to the slider and Xander was waiting for it, golfing it over the Monster for his first career grand slam.

Just like that a 6-4 deficit turned into an 8-6 lead. If you watch the replay closely, you’ll see Bogaerts indulged himself in a quick little stare down of Gomes as if to say “I can’t believe you threw that weak shit in here again.” Lefty and I were hootin’ and hollerin’ like the Rays held a half-game lead over the Sox for the last wild card spot, not 4th place in the division.

So how did we get to that point? Eduardo Rodriguez was on the bump for the Sox and gave up 3 runs on his first nine pitches of the game, but was in control for the rest of his outing, going 6 and logging a quality start.

He was opposed by Chris Archer, who was effective but wild. He only allowed only one run, but thanks to five walks, couldn’t go more than 5 innings.

Given the matchup of Rodriguez and one of the AL’s best in Archer, you didn’t have to be Tim Kurkjian to predict that this game would come down to whose bullpen would be less ineffective. For a while that looked like it was going to be the Rays.

Although Alex Colome surrendered 3 runs,

• Mookie and Pedroia singled.
• Xander doubled high off the wall in left-centerfield. It looked gone off of the bat, but the chilly September wind kept the ball in the park.
• Ortiz had an RBI groundout.
• Shaw lifted a sac fly.

and the lead in the bottom of the 7th, Alexi Ogando gave it right back in the top of the 8th, putting the Sox in a 6-4 hole and necessitating Xander’s heroics.

Robbie Ross Jr. came in for the 9th and followed his standard operating procedure, giving up an absolute scud missile of a home run to Richie Shaffer before nailing down the save.

*With last night’s win, the Sox are now technically in 4th, a half game up on the Rays. But they were in last while this game was being played.

Notes:

-For those of you keeping score at home, that was two at-bats with men on in crucial late inning situations and two extra-base hits for Xander. He was a few degrees and a breeze away from the first being a three-run homer. He had 5 RBIs and also did this in the field.

-The Red Sox honored Big Papi for his 500th homer in a long, but nice ceremony before the game. Worth a watch if you have 11 minutes to kill.