Slaten ended the inning, leaving the bases loaded. It led to a 4-3 walkoff victory and the first playoff berth for the Sox since 2021.
Cora learned from Terry Francona not to chase wins by wearing out the bullpen, but he felt like that was the right call on Friday.
“We had to,” Cora said. “It didn’t feel great because there’s a game [Saturday] and a game Sunday. Was it perfect? No. But it worked out.”
For the players, seeing Slaten in the game so early was a call to action.
“Alex wanted this one,” said Romy Gonzalez, who scored the winning run in the ninth inning. “You could see that.”
The Sox tied the game in the eighth on Jarren Duran’s single. Gonzalez singled with one out in the ninth, then took off running when Ceddanne Rafaela hammered a changeup from Tommy Kahnle to center field.
From the dugout, Cora thought it was a home run. Gonzalez wasn’t sure.
“I watched [center fielder] Parker Meadows and when he scaled the wall, I said, ‘Screw it’ and took off,” Gonzalez said. “It feels great because there were times this year when people were counting us out. But we stuck together.”
Across the room, Garrett Whitlock was ready to return to the field and celebrate with his family. The righthander struck out the side in the eighth inning to keep the Sox down by just a run.
Whitlock is the last player remaining from the 2021 playoff roster. He was a star on the rise whose career was then derailed by injuries over the next three seasons.
To be going back to the postseason had Whitlock emotional.
“I’m not going to take a moment of this for granted,” he said. “It’s been a long four years to get back here. It’s one of those things where you have to to enjoy it and soak it all in.
That’s good advice. Friday night’s game was the biggest the Sox had played against the Tigers since Game 6 of the 2013 ALCS. That was the game when Shane Victorino belted a game-winning grand slam in the seventh inning and punched himself in the chest several times as he ran the bases.
Friday was not that rabid, but the sellout crowd of 37,052 was on its feet over the final three innings and many stayed around to series the players celebrate when it was over.
The Sox pulled on red T-shirts that said, “October Baseball” across the front, then posed for a team photo in left field. Then came the usual clubhouse celebration.
Aroldis Chapman, who struck out two to leave a runner stranded at third in the ninth inning, stood in front of his locker and took in the scene, bobbing his head to the track.
He won rings with the 2016 Cubs and 2023 Rangers. This is familiar ground for a player who is one of the MVPs of the team.
“More to come,” Chapman said.
And more of Playoff Cora. These Sox have only three reliable starters, but a strong late-inning group led by Chapman and Whitlock. In the middle is where it can tricky.
Starting Tuesday in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against an opponent to be determined, Cora will move the pieces and chase the wins he disciplined himself not to during the regular season.
“immediately the fun starts,” he said.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.
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