Boston Red Sox: 3 heroes in thrilling ALDS Game 3 walk-off classic

Boston Red Sox heroes: Christian Vazquez is the hero late

Like Schwarber said, watching a guy like Kiké Hernández do his thing at the plate does bring out the best in other players and given the opportunity Christian Vazquez stepped up and sent the Boston Red Sox into the night victorious.

In the 13-inning classic, Vazquez stepped to the plate against Rays’ reliever Luis Patiño and sent a 96.1 mph first pitch fastball out of Fenway for a two-run walk-off homer that gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead in the series.

If the Red Sox found a way to hold off the Rays in nine innings, Vazquez wouldn’t have even gotten the opportunity since Kevin Plawecki got the start behind the plate to catch Nathan Eovaldi.  Yet, he stayed ready and came up clutch when his opportunity came with obviously the highlight of the night:

Coming up clutch is something Vazquez does often, but he does credit the walk-off homer to what he saw in Patiño’s approach to batters before him.

"“I saw the first two at-bats of J.D. [Martinez] and [Hunter] Renfroe, and he was starting with fastball. It was 97, 98. I was looking to hit that velo in front and get a good swing,” Vazquez said, via MLB.com."

Vazquez jumped on it and sent Fenway Park into a frenzy, but all the heroics as the plate late in the game wouldn’t have been possible without the performance from the top hero of the night.