None of that stopped either club from grinding through nine scoreless-in-the-clutch innings. Both offenses managed 7 hits, both starters kept things manageable, and this had all the makings of a low-scoring coin flip right up until it wasn't.
Extra innings blew it open. Mickey Gasper's first career multi-homer game kept Boston in it, and Jarren Duran turned a tight game into a laugher with a go-ahead grand slam that put 4 runs on the board in a single swing. Miami answered with a run of its own late, but the damage was done — Boston's bullpen closed it out for a 7-3 final at loanDepot park.
The win pushed Boston's streak to 5 straight under interim manager Chad Tracy, who's turned a 10-17 start into one of the better managerial stories in baseball this summer and still can't shake the interim label. Miami, fresh off sweeping Washington, now has to figure out its bullpen picture without Fairbanks down the stretch.
Two clubs going in opposite directions collided in Miami, and the extra innings just made the gap look wider than the first nine frames actually suggested.