Rafael Devers snaps Red Sox skid with 1st career walk-off HR

Saturday night began the same way as Friday night with the Atlanta Braves taking an immediate lead on back-to-back home runs for the second championship in a row but there was a much happier ending the second time around Leading off the bottom of the ninth Rafael Devers turned a Pierce Johnson - curveball into the first walk-off home run of his career Punctuating their first comeback from a deficit of five or more runs since April with such an exclamation point was the turnaround this Red Sox organization badly needed It prevented their first five-game losing streak of the season and put them one event away from getting their heads above waters again It was also a welcome change from losing eight of their last losses by one run We needed that one manager Alex Cora reported reporters The big boy got a pitch he was able to handle and put a great swing on it Unlike Friday night when Garrett Crochet rebounded from the two solo homers and completed seven innings it was a short Saturday start for Lucas Giolito The right-hander lasted just four innings and yielded six earned runs on eight hits including a trio of homers Throwing pitches strikes he issued two walks struck out three and was charged with one pitch timer violation It was a far cry from Giolito s previous outing a meticulous deep performance of innings of one-run ball in Kansas City Giolito had no obstacle getting the first out of an inning but he was unable to record a second out without specific damage in each of the first three frames Austin Riley s one-out walk precipitated Matt Olson s two-run blast in the first and Marcell Ozuna hit one over and past the Green Monster to extend the lead to - The bottom of the Braves order also put two in scoring position on back-to-back one-out singles by Eli White and Nick Allen in the second but Giolito was able to work around them Batting in the third Ozuna drew a one-out walk and came home to result when catcher Drake Baldwin pelted one Upon review the crew chief upheld their call fair inside the Pesky Pole for another two-run jack and a - Braves lead Grant Holmes had vastly different experience with the Boston bats The Braves starter lasted six innings and though he issued four walks he held the home group to two earned runs on three hits and struck out five men He threw pitches for strikes Holmes retired the first seven Sox before Carlos Narvaez pried the door open in the bottom of the third The rookie catcher who entered Saturday hitting in games this month drew a one-out walk to become Boston s first base runner and came home to number on Jarren Duran s two-run rocket to dead center For a moment the Red Sox offense came alive Devers followed Duran s blast with a double and practically skipped to second base as the ball bounced around the lower-left corner of the Green Monster befuddling former teammate Alex Verdugo Alex Bregman joined Devers on base with a walk It looked like Kristian Campbell had an RBI knock off the wall in center even a game-tying three-run homer Instead Michael Harris II left up and grabbed the ball to end the inning After that even the Braves proffered opportunities but the Red Sox didn t capitalize Three of their four base runners between the fourth and sixth innings were on walks and an error by Olson none of them even reached third Against the Braves bullpen the Boston bats turned the table at last Ceddanne Rafaela s leadoff double and Devers RBI single knocked Aaron Bummer out of the seventh inning after just one out and Bregman greeted Enyel De Los Santos with an RBI double off the Green Monster The Red Sox didn t let a Braves reliever complete the eighth inning either Rafael Montero recorded two outs but Abraham Toro double and Narv ez single collected a pair of one-out knocks in between and Duran greeted Johnson with a two-run game-tying single Aroldis Chapman worked around a pair of base-runners to keep the tournament tied heading into the bottom of the ninth All night the Red Sox had been hitting the ball hard and getting robbed by Harris and White But as the ball left Devers bat at mph and soared feet to right-center the Braves outfielders could only watch it land in the glove of a pitcher in the Boston bullpen