Xander Bogaerts worked the count full against Blue Jays closer Anthony Bass on Saturday evening. The Red Sox were down by a run. Down to their last inning in what has amounted to a down season.
Bogaerts was due, though. He was 0 for 4 to that point and in the seventh, his flyout landed just short of the left-center field wall. This time, however, Bogaerts would make the Jays pay.
Bass left a hanging slider over the plate and Bogaerts ripped it for a homer over the Green Monster in center, catapulting the Red Sox to a 9-8 come-from-behind win. After Christian Vazquez reached base on a fielder’s choice, stole second and advanced on a throwing error, Yairo Munoz then hit a tapper to third baseman Travis Shaw, who made an errant throw home, giving the Sox a walkoff win.
“It was pretty fun,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “I don’t care what our record is, at any time, it’s pretty fun winning a game like that.”
The Sox led 6-2 through five before the bullpen imploded, giving up three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Red Sox starter Ryan Weber appeared to give the bullpen a much-needed rest, going five innings and allowing just two runs. The only damage done against Weber happened on a Teoscar Hernandez homer in the second and a Shaw RBI double in the fourth.
Weber became the first starter other than Nate Eovaldi and Martin Perez to complete the fifth inning of a contest this season.
But the Sox ran into trouble beginning in the sixth inning with Josh Taylor in for relief. Before Saturday, Taylor made four consecutive scoreless appearances while allowing just one hit over that span. But the sixth inning brought its share of struggles for the lefthanded reliever.
Taylor walked Rowdy Tellez to start the inning on five pitches, then Hernandez singled. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. belted a three-run shot to center, making it a one-run game.
The Sox went down in order in the bottom half of that frame and Phillips Valdez took over for Taylor in the seventh. But Valdez didn’t fare any better, giving up three straight singles, the last by Hernandez plating the tying run.
“We’ve pitched him a lot,” said Roenicke, regarding some of Valdez’s struggles as of late. “So, that has something to do with it for sure. I think it’s some of the situations probably. He’s been in some tough situations.”
A two-out double by Joe Panik put the Blue Jays on top, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. later drove in another with an infield hit.
Rafael Devers homered in the bottom of the inning to cut it to 8-7. He also lined out with the bases loaded to end the eighth, but Bogaerts and the Sox offense came through in the ninth.
The Red Sox were all over Toronto starter Chase Anderson, tagging him for nine hits and six runs in just four innings.
It began in the second when J.D. Martinez rocketed a solo shot to center. Jackie Bradley Jr. then extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-run shot of his own to right field, his second homer in this series. Bobby Dalbec joined in on the action later that inning, belting a solo home run to left field at 110.2 miles per hour off the bat. It was a good sign for Dalbec, who came into the game hitting just .111 with 11 strikeouts.
“I was kind of getting stuck on my backside, " Dalbec said. “I was spinning and tying myself up. I was seeing the ball well, but I wasn’t capable of putting a good swing on it. I think I got it ironed out now.”
In the fourth, Devers doubled down the right field line to bring in two, extending the Sox’ lead to 6-2. Anderson wasn’t fooling any of the Sox hitters on his fastball. Each of the six runs he surrendered on the evening came on that pitch.
Bogaerts entered this game just 3 for his last 20 dating back to Aug. 31, but in the end, his one swing in the ninth helped give the Sox a much-needed victory.
“It was a good win,” Roenicke said. “I thought we did a great job offensively. We kept coming back. We busted out early, which has been something that we’ve been wanting to do.”
Julian McWilliams can be reached at julian.mcwilliams@globe.com. Follow him @byJulianMack.