Fenway Park has been around for well over a century, but the 36,021 fans who came out for Monday’s Labor Day matinee may well have witnessed the strangest home run in the ballpark’s long history.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Trevor Story sent a fly ball the opposite way to the base of Pesky’s Pole in right field. The ball was playable for Jhonkensy Noel, but when the Cleveland Guardians right fielder attempted to make the catch, the ball bounced out of his glove, hit the foul pole and fell to the ground.

Was it a foul ball? A ground rule double? After some initial confusion and the assistance of replay, the umpires confirmed it was a home run, a true only-at-Fenway solo shot that helped power the Red Sox to a 6-4 win.

“It was nice, it was obviously cool to get one off the Pesky’s Pole, I think that’s the first one I’ve got,” Story said later. “It was crazy, I didn’t know what was going on at first and in the last few clips I saw it hit the pole so I felt good about it.”

Story’s homer traveled just 306 feet and was the shortest non-inside-the-parker in MLB this season. It was the highlight of a productive yet disjointed offensive performance for the Red Sox, who tallied 14 hits but stranded 12 men and went 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

The game also moved at a glacial pace aided in part by starting pitchers Brayan Bello and Parker Messick, neither of whom brought their ‘A’ game.

The Red Sox started off on the right foot, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Roman Anthony singled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on an Alex Bregman double and scored after Messick was called for a balk. Romy Gonzalez followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

From there, the game slowed to a crawl.

After already laboring through a 24-pitch scoreless first, Bello got completely stuck in the mud in the top of the second. He allowed a leadoff walk, a single and another walk to load the bases with no outs, and then he gave up back-to-back singles, including an RBI knock by C.J. Kayfus and a two-run single by Brayan Rocchio that put Cleveland in front.

Bello was able to work his way out of the jam without further damage, but not before running his pitch count up to 59.

Messick wasn’t any more efficient for the Guardians. He allowed the Red Sox to get runners at the corners with two outs in the second, setting the table for Story to tie the game at 3-3 with an RBI single. The Red Sox loaded the bases afterwards but came away empty handed, and after a scoreless third squandered another opportunity with two on in the fourth.

Messick was pulled after 3.2 innings, but a curious decision by the Guardians opened the door for Boston in the fifth, and this time they were able to take advantage.

Despite the Red Sox having three righties due up, including lefty killer Rob Refsnyder to lead off the inning, Cleveland inserted lefty reliever Erik Sabrowski to start the fifth. Refsnyder predictably doubled off the Guardians lefty, and Sabrowski followed by walking Nate Eaton and hitting Ceddanne Rafaela to load the bases.

Cora went to his bench and pinch hit Carlos Narvaez, and the rookie delivered with a two-run single to put the Red Sox back in front.

The Red Sox reloaded the bases after the go-ahead single but again failed to come through. Anthony struck out and Bregman grounded into an inning-ending double play, after which point Boston had nine men left on base through the first five innings.

Fortunately for Boston, the lead proved sufficient.

Bello was able to grind through five innings and left after allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks. He was followed by lefty Justin Wilson, who carved up the Guardians for a scoreless sixth on just six pitches.

“It was a grind for Brayan, a lot of foul balls, a lot of lefties, they’re going to put the ball in play and they found holes, but he was able to give us five, and in the past that’s 3.2, five runs, six runs,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That’s who he is right now, he gave us a chance to win.”

Bello said postgame that he just wanted to go as deep as possible once he survived the laborious first two innings.

“My focus was to get quick outs so I can go deep into the game, go five or six,” Bello said via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Luckily I was able to do that.”

Story came through with his weird home run in the bottom of the frame, making it 6-3 Boston and giving the shortstop 86 RBI on the season. That’s his most in a season since he recorded 108 in 2018, and with 23 games remaining a second career 100 RBI season is very much in play.

“I think Trevor is kind of like the game changer. Him hitting 20-plus homers and running the bases well and we’ve been talking about homers but now it’s the average, he’s up to like (.260),” Cora said. “This is a really good season for a guy that not too many people thought he was going to be able to do it.”

The Guardians got a run back on a solo shot by Kyle Manzardo off Steven Matz in the seventh, but the Red Sox bullpen shut things down the rest of the way. Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth for his 28th save of the season, giving the Red Sox their ninth win in 12 games.

Deja vu

Ironically, one of the few home runs in recent memory that was somewhat comparable to Story’s home run was hit by his future manager almost exactly 19 years to the day earlier.

On Aug. 31, 2006, Cora hit his only career home run at Fenway Park off future Hall of Famer Roy Halladay in an eventual 6-4 Red Sox win. The ball went to the right field corner and was playable for Blue Jays right fielder Alex Rios, but Rios dropped it and knocked the ball into the stands with his throwing hand by mistake.

Here’s the one homer at Fenway Park that Alex Cora was talking about.

Yesterday was the 19th anniversary of it.

pic.twitter.com/pu0WPX4nWV https://t.co/Zja8kK6kA4

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) September 1, 2025

Cora said that home run came up on Sunday, so it was fresh in everyone’s memory when Story’s moment echoed his the following afternoon.

“They showed a replay yesterday of my only home run at Fenway, it was a fly ball to right field and Alexis Rios bobbled it like three times and the ball went out of it,” Cora said. “They watched it, and Trevor was like ‘just like yours!’”

Blue Jays lose

While the Red Sox were taking care of business at Fenway Park, they got an assist more than 800 miles away when the Cincinnati Reds rallied in the ninth to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4. With Toronto’s loss and the New York Yankees idle, the Red Sox (77-62) are now just 2.5 games back of the Blue Jays in the AL East and tied with the Yankees for the top AL Wild Card spot.

With less than a month and 23 games remaining, the Red Sox believe they’re in a great spot.

“Baseball is a crazy game and I feel like two games is nothing,” Story said. “With that being said we’re locked in on what we have to do each night to win and not worried about what anyone else is doing, and if we take care of our business then we’ll be where we want to be at the end.”

Originally Published: September 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM EDT