Xander Bogaerts' performance at the plate Friday night in the Boston Red Sox's 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum ended up being the cherry on top.
Bogaerts smacked a solo home run and laced a two-run double, but most importantly, the stellar shortstop made Red Sox history.
Bogaerts surpassed Everett Scott for most games played at shortstop in the organization's illustrious history by suiting up in his 1,094th game at the position to break Scott's record, which had stood since 1921. With Bogaerts in the spotlight before the game even began, he could see a big offensive showing coming.
"I had a weird feeling about just the whole day," Bogaerts told Tom Caron following the game, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "When this day is special like this, sometimes a lot of good things happen to the player. From my first at-bat I was seeing the ball really well, and I was like, 'Man, this feels a little different today.' And my second at-bat right away, I hit one out. It was a little meant to be."
Bogaerts finished the game 2-for-5 with three runs batted in, as his solo home run over the left-field wall opened the scoring in the top of the fourth. Bogaerts then put the finishing touches on the win with his two-run double in the final frame.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora beamed with pride seeing Bogaerts contribute to the win and break a record that illustrates his longevity with the club.
"Just proud of him. Just showing up every day," Cora said as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "He means a lot to us, he means a lot to his teammates, it means a lot to the city of Boston. He's a humble kid from the islands that he just wants to play baseball. I think with time he's going to realize how important he is for us and for the Red Sox and actually, for baseball. This kid is so consistent with everything he does, and I'm glad that he had a great night."
Prior to the game, Bogaerts told reporters he credited the milestone to staying healthy and being productive. Bogaerts certainly felt grateful as well to go into the Red Sox record book.
"I am blessed. I am blessed to be able to play baseball and play for the Red Sox," Bogaerts told Caron. "They gave me an opportunity when I was 16. Me and my twin brother we signed the same day, and ever since then we've been here. I'm happy I did really well, especially today for my family. I know my mom, uncle, my whole family probably watching it from home. To win, that's even better."
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Athletics:
-- Nathan Eovaldi was spectacular in his sixth innings of work to earn his third win of the season. Eovaldi allowed just four hits and no runs while striking out eight and walking only one.
"I felt really good today," Eovaldi said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "I had real good fastball command and a good feel for my splitter again. I was able to use it earlier in the counts and get some quick outs."
-- John Schreiber got two big outs in the bottom of the eighth with the A's trying to put together a rally. Schreiber struck out Christian Bethancourt after Jed Lowrie hit a two-run double off Matt Strahm to cut Oakland's deficit in half. Following a walk from Schreiber, which put the tying run on first, he got a weak groundout to end the threat.
-- Trevor Story and Kiké Hernández joined Bogaerts as the only three members of the Red Sox with two hits each. Story had a key two-run double in the top of the sixth and also stole a base.
-- The Red Sox will continue their three-game series with the A's on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:07 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
