Ceddanne Rafaela is red hot for the Red Sox
Ceddanne Rafaela lifted the Boston Red Sox to a much-needed win Wednesday afternoon with an unconventional walk-off home run at Fenway Park. The outfielder's two-run blast was more of a blip, going just 308 feet around the famous Pesky Pole in right field to give the Red Sox an 11-9 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
While the homer wasn't a tape-measure shot, the Red Sox avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Angels with Rafaela's dinger. He has now homered in three straight games, as the outfielder continues a hot stretch for the Red Sox.
Rafaela's short walk-off homer
Rafaela's homers in the first two games against Los Angeles were both towering blasts that cleared the Green Monster in left field. His walk-off Wednesday... not so much.
With the game tied 9-9 and Abraham Toro on first base for Boston, Rafaela didn't wait around at the plate. Angels reliver Brock Burke started him with an 86 mph changeup, which Rafaela lifted down the right field line. The ball left his bat at 94 mph, and to most baseball fans, it likely looked as though it would harmlessly drift foul.
But Red Sox fans know better inside Fenway Park. The ball wasn't in the air for long, but everyone in the stadium -- including the Boston dugout -- was thinking the same thing: The Pesky Pole.
(Everyone except the fan in the brown top. She was just thinking about her life in that moment.)
Rafaela's walk-off is not only the shortest home run at Fenway Park since Statcast starting tracking such things in 2015, but it's the shortest walk-off homer by any player in the Statcast era. It would have been a foul ball anywhere else, and only a homer at Fenway Park.
But Rafaela's shot counts all the same, and lifted Boston to a much-needed victory.
"I was like, 'If it's fair, it's gone.' So I was hoping it stayed fair," Rafaela said after the win. "I was really happy, because we grinded today. To win this game was huge for us. I was really happy."
The Red Sox had to fight back all afternoon Wednesday. They battled back from a 4-0 hole in the first inning, and then 7-5, 8-7 and 9-8 deficits late in the game. Each time they were able to come through with a timely hit to pull even, until Rafaela sent everyone home happy. It's the kind of win that could jumpstart a struggling team, as the Red Sox head into a tough stretch on the schedule.
Ceddanne Rafaela's hot streak
The walk-off was Rafaela's only hit Wednesday, but it extended his current hit streak to eight games. He's 14-for-34 at the plate during the streak, good for a .412/.412/.824 slash line. Rafaela's hit four homers and two doubles in the last eight games, while while driving in six runs and scoring six of his own.
He's gotten hot at just the right time for the Red Sox, with the team set to open a tough stretch Friday night with a three-game series against the first-place Yankees in New York. A four-game series against the Rays and a three-game set against the Yankees at Fenway Park follow, before Boston heads out West on a nine-game road trip against the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and Angels.
Rafaela's hot stretch should continue in the Bronx this weekend. In 16 career games against the Yankees, the 24-year-old has slashed .297/.318/.578 with five homers, three doubles, and nine RBI. Two of those homers have come in his six games at Yankee Stadium.
