The Boston Red Sox didn’t get their first lead on Thursday night until about 11:40 p.m. ET. But they stayed alive long enough for that lead to mean everything.
In what was easily the game of the year from Boston’s perspective — arguably in all of Major League Baseball, the Red Sox took down the Chicago White Sox by a final score of 12-11 in 13 innings. The game saw 29 hits and 17 pitchers used, and the two teams scored runs in 14 of the 26 half-innings.
Boston had to come back from down 4-0, 5-2, 7-5, 9-7, 10-9, and 11-10 to pull out the gutsy win. It was their eighth in a row, and the way they did it had to be the most impressive thing they’ve done in a single contest all year.
Red Sox set MLB modern-era first with late-game heroics
Aug 5, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu (52) reacts after stealing second base Chicago White Sox during the eighth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The game could have been over so many times, but the Red Sox, as they’ve done so often in the last two months, refused to go down without a fight. Big swings from Connor Wong, Masataka Yoshida, Caleb Durbin, and more helped set the stage for the dramatic game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth from Wilyer Abreu, with the Red Sox down to their very last strike.
From there, the Red Sox had to keep pace with Chicago in every frame of extras, as two in the 10th, one in the 11th, and one in the 12th kept the Red Sox on their heels until Brayan Bello was finally able to get a scoreless top of the 13th.
That set the stage for Durbin to walk things off with a single up the middle in the bottom half of the 13th. And according to OptaSTATS on X, that made the Red Sox the first team in the modern era (since 1900) to score in at least five separate innings in the ninth inning or later. Yeah, that historic.
The @RedSox are the only MLB team in the modern era to score in 5 separate innings in the 9th inning or later in the same game.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 7, 2026
The advent of the ghost-runner rule at the start of the decade certainly helped the Red Sox accomplish that feat, as only one of the five runs Boston scored in extras was charged to the pitcher on the mound. But the fight on display was simply incredible.
Winners of 31 of their last 36 games, the Red Sox are in the middle of a dream they just don’t want to wake up from. Just keep tuning in every night and expecting greatness until further notice.
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