You can expect to have your phone blow up after a great performance. But for Hunter Renfroe, those messages of praise were coming from the players he just beat.
The Red Sox outfielder was spectacular Wednesday, helping Boston win the game on offense and defense, with a go-ahead home run and two clutch outfield assists — one which ended the game.
And if doing it against his old team, the Tampa Bay Rays, made the performance any sweeter, Renfroe didn’t gloat about it after the game.
“Those guys are great over there,” Renfroe said of his ex-teammates after Boston’s thrilling 2-1 win . “It’s kind of funny — I got back in and looked at my phone and had messages from those guys. Just kind of a laughing matter, nothing too bad or anything but just kind of jokingly, like a GIF waving the white flag and stuff like that. So it was great. Those guys, they’re great guys, and the whole organization over there is incredible. I mean, no hard feelings to any those guys know, this game is too hard to have hard feelings against anybody. But did it feel good to go against those guys? No, I think it’s just great to have a good win like that against anybody. It just happens to be against the first-place team.”
Renfroe is being humble.
He landed with the Red Sox after the Rays designated him for assignment after the 2020 season, and since Boston scooped him up as a free agent, he’s been one of its most consistent players.
His 16 assists in right field are the most by a Red Sox player in the expansion era, per Red Sox Notes on Twitter. He leads Major League Baseball in the stat, in addition to his .267 average, .837 OPS, 27 home runs and 85 RBIs.
Whether the Rays regret letting him go or not, they definitely felt bad about it Wednesday.
