Game 161 had plenty riding on it for the Red Sox, and things got tense late. Up 1-0 on the Nationals in the bottom of the eighth, Adam Ottavino took the mound to close things out but immediately ran into trouble. He started strong with a strikeout, then gave up a bloop double to Ryan Zimmerman on a ball Hunter Renfroe couldn’t locate in the outfield. A walk followed, then another borderline ball-four call on a full count that Ottavino did not like. He gave the ump an earful and got pulled before he could get out of the inning. Juan Soto came up next and delivered a tying RBI on a sac fly. The Nationals looked like they might spoil Boston’s playoff push.
But the Red Sox answered fast. Down a run, JD Martinez put together a long at-bat to draw a walk. Two batters later, Christian Vázquez lifted a pop to right that Soto misplayed, letting the go-ahead run score. Travis Shaw followed with an RBI single, and then another hitter capped it with a bomb. What looked like a painful blown lead flipped quickly into a feel-good win. Ottavino’s frustration didn’t last long—by the ninth, the dugout was all smiles and celebration. Red Sox pulled it off and stayed alive in the postseason race.