BOSTON — Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony delivered his first major league walkoff RBI in front of a sellout crowd of 36,881 rowdy fans here at Fenway Park on Friday.
“It’s amazing. It’s fun. I want to do it again already,” Anthony said.
Anthony’s RBI single sailed over Astros center fielder Taylor Trammell’s head and scored Wilyer Abreu, the extra-inning automatic runner, from third base. The Red Sox won 2-1 in 10 innings over Houston.
“I mean, the crowd’s going crazy,” Red Sox veteran Trevor Story said. “It felt kind of like a playoff atmosphere there for a little bit. He (Anthony) is just chilling up there. That’s what it looks like.”
The 21-year-old left-handed hitter stayed calm after falling behind 0-2 in the count on two sliders from lefty reliever Bennett Sousa.
“Runner on third, just fighting in any way I can to just put the ball in play and try to get something done,” Anthony said.
Anthony laid off the next two pitches, both sliders outside of the zone. He fouled off another slider before connecting on a 95.8 mph fastball for the game-winning hit.
“You can’t say enough how poised he is,” Story said. “The moment is never too big for him. He’s just so calm in there. It’s like he’s been there for 10 years. So it’s awesome to see. He’s gonna be doing that for a long time.”
Story pointed out how Anthony has continued to do a good job taking tough pitches.
“I think that’s the biggest thing you see — he’s not expanding the zone,” Story said. “He’s been true to that really the whole time here. So he’s a special player, man. I love having him up in those spots.”
Anthony chucked his helmet in the air after he saw his 379-foot hit drop in and his teammates rushed behind second base to congratulate him.
“Credit to the fans,” Anthony said. “Every night they’re here. This place is just sold out every night. It makes it so fun to play in. And they’re there the entire game, whether it’s 12 innings, whatever it is.”
Anthony said he’s found it’s important to make pitch-to-pitch adjustments to have success in the big leagues.
“So for me, it’s just kind of slowing everything down and taking everything out of it and just trying to fight as best as I can and adjust pitch to pitch,” Anthony said. “And the more pitches I see, obviously the more settled in I feel. But just trying to fight in any way possible to put a ball in play and make something happen.”
