In a critical situation in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday at Fenway Park, Ceddanne Rafaela found himself down in the count, 1-2, and didn’t look particularly comfortable getting there. The first pitch was in the middle-upper quadrant of the strike zone and he watched it go by for strike one. The next pitch was high and way out of the strike zone and he swung through it. After taking ball one, Rafaela again chased high for strike two. The Rafaela of 2024 and ‘25 could well have been on his way to a strikeout. But the evolution of Rafaela as a hitter has been one of the best developments of the season for Boston. With the bases loaded and two outs, Rafaela shortened his swing on a curveball and rifled it on a line and through the shortstop hole and into left for a go-ahead two-run single that lifted the Red Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Rangers. “Well, he fished for a couple of pitches, the first two swings,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “He swung at two balls well out of the zone up, and then just kind of calmed himself down and made sure he got a strike and put it in play. But, yeah, obviously a clutch at-bat.” Rafaela has often come through with the game on the line in his career. “I'm never worried when it's him,” Jarren Duran said of Rafaela. “In any situation where we need to come up clutch or something like that, he's the guy. He's got literally ice in his veins. It's sick.” Was Rafaela mad at himself for getting himself into that unadvantageous 1-2 count against Rangers lefty Robby Ahlstrom by chasing? “I cannot be mad in that moment. I was just trying to refocus and get into the box and get the job done,” Rafaela said. “I think it was huge. I was trying to just put the ball in play and the curve popped, and I tried to put a good swing on it.”
