A member of the Red Sox for about 24 hours, Darnell McDonald admitted that his performance on Tuesday night "set the bar kind of high."
But just as he showed no hesitancy in his first Red Sox at-bat — one that ended in a two-run homer over the Monster — he is looking forward to his second game in a Sox uniform and his first start at Fenway.
"Every year, I set out to improve what I did last year," McDonald said. "What happened [Tuesday] night, that was the reason I signed over here — for opportunities like that. It came early and unexpected, but you always gotta be prepared when they call your name."
McDonald proved to be plenty prepared. He homered off Texas reliever Darren Oliver in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 6. He stepped up one inning later with the bases loaded and two outs, and he got just enough of a Frank Francisco pitch to scrape the Green Monster, driving in the winning run.
McDonald's secret might have been fatigue.
"I didn’t get much sleep [Tuesday night]," he said. "I didn’t get much sleep last night or actually the day before. So maybe that’s the trick."
Was any of that time awake spent watching the highlights on SportsCenter?
"Oh, you know it," he said with a laugh. "I watched a little bit."
