After Tuesday's victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card Game, Boston Red Sox players couldn't get enough of the insane relay play in the sixth inning that kept the Yankees from getting within one run.
Kiké Hernández was in position to back up Alex Verdugo, who tried to play Giancarlo Stanton's blast off of the Green Monster. Hernández then found Xander Bogaerts, who fulfilled his role as cut-off man and fired away to catcher Kevin Plawecki, who got Aaron Judge out at the plate to preserve Boston's 3-1 lead.
And if it sounds absolutely nuts, that's because it was. This overhead view from Statcast shows just how perfectly executed this play was:
After the game, Bogaerts said that moment was "better" than the two-run home run he launched in the first inning to get the Red Sox on the board.
"That changed the game," he said. "I really feel like that was one of the biggest moments of that game, regardless of all the homers we hit and all the walks (seven) that we took and what not. The momentum changed right there big time."
Because of the victory, the Red Sox advance to the American League Division Series, where they'll face the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays in a best-of-five series.
