Darnell McDonald‘s heroic debut squares off against the comeback win over the Yankees in the first round of the Best 2010 Red Sox Game That Aired on NESN competition.
The low point of the Red Sox’ season may have come on April 19, when the Tampa Bay Rays finished a four-game sweep in Boston with an 8-2 Patriots’ Day pasting, dropping the Red Sox to 4-9. One of the high points came just one day later, when a guy who wasn’t even in the clubhouse until about an hour before the game was at the heart of a signature Fenway Park moment. Called up from Triple-A Pawtucket, Darnell McDonald, a 31-year-old journeyman outfielder playing for his seventh organization, came off the bench to smack a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Rangers. With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, McDonald delivered again by punching a ball off the Green Monster to score Kevin Youkilis with the game-winner in the 7-6 victory. Youkilis led a raucous charge of Red Sox players out to greet the jubilant McDonald, part of the best celebration of the season.
Josh Beckett walked off the mound with a sore back on May 18, just moments after allowing a two-run double to Robinson Cano that extended the Yankees’ fifth-inning lead to 5-0 at Yankee Stadium. All appeared lost, but the Red Sox — coming off a heartbreaking loss to New York on a Jonathan Papelbon blown save — stormed back, scoring the next five runs with three RBIs from Kevin Youkilis. Then, tied 5-5 in the top of the ninth, an unlikely hero emerged. Jeremy Hermida stepped into the batter’s box against Mariano Rivera and smacked a two-run double, giving the Red Sox a 7-5 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Papelbon was tested but ultimately recovered to close out the Yankees 7-6 and cap off the exceptional comeback in the Bronx.
