Red Sox trailed in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th ... and still won their 8th straight

BOSTON – It’s gone from incredible to insane.

The Red Sox rallied for their eighth straight victory, pulling it out in the 13th inning on Caleb Durbin’s one-out RBI single for a 12-11 win over the White Sox on Thursday night at steamy Fenway Park.

It was the team’s second straight sweep, as Boston moved to 26-3 since July 3 and 31-5 since June 25. The Red Sox are just the fourth team to go 26-3 or better in a 29-game span within a season in the past 70 years, and the first since Cleveland in 2017.

“It ranks at the top of the list, I would say,” said interim manager Chad Tracy, who entered his postgame press conference soaked in sweat and sporting a bit of a bewildered look after a four-hour, 23-minute marathon that was filled with more twists and turns than a great spy novel. In terms of time, it was Boston's longest game in the pitch-clock era and ranks as the third-longest regular-season game for any team during that time.

This one will certainly go down in Red Sox annals as one of the wackiest. They rallied to tie it in the ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th before Durbin’s single up the middle sent automatic runner Nick Sogard sliding headfirst into the plate safely, setting off a raucous celebration that carried into the outfield when they mobbed Durbin. The Sox became the first team in MLB's modern era to score in five separate innings in the ninth or later in the same game.

“Relief,” Durbin said, beaming with a smile. “We really wanted that one. I wanted that one bad, obviously we wanted that one. It’s just kind of one of those where you hope the ball falls your way, and we were able to pull that one out.”

Boston’s improbable run against some of MLB’s best teams continues.

It started in early July, when the Red Sox took three from the AL Central-leading White Sox in Chicago. Then they opened the second half with a four-game sweep over the AL East leaders, Tampa Bay, before heading out west and sweeping three in Los Angeles last weekend against the Dodgers.

Tracy’s bunch capped its latest sweep with a memorable victory in front of 37,082.

The Red Sox dug out of a 4-0 third-inning hole -- the first of five comebacks in the game. Connor Wong’s two-run homer in the bottom of the third put Boston on the board, and from there, it was a back-and-forth affair to the very end.

Down to their last out in the ninth, they tied it on Wilyer Abreu’s single. That’s when the roller coaster of a night really took off.

After Aroldis Chapman, the Red Sox’s typically unflappable closer, surrendered a two-run home run in the 10th, Boston retied it on Anthony Seigler’s sacrifice fly before leaving the bases loaded on Sogard’s inning-ending fielder’s choice.

In the 11th, Abreu’s sacrifice fly tied it yet again. But with each run, the White Sox countered. An inning later, newcomer Jake Rogers had a sac fly to tie it, again.

“It’s truly incredible,” said backup catcher Rogers, acquired with catcher Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles in a Deadline deal. “I can speak from the other side from the last six years that this team, especially the last couple of years, this team is a pain in the butt [to play against] and they’re relentless, a bunch of great players, they hustle everywhere.”

It set the stage for more drama and another crazy Fenway victory that highlighted why this team is doing what it’s doing: they certainly don’t quit.

After Brayan Bello -- Boston’s last available arm in the bullpen -- held the White Sox scoreless in the 13th, the Red Sox finally put it away.

“That was the first inning [in extras] that somebody got held scoreless, so you’re trying to get it done right there,” Tracy said.

They did that like they have so many times during their inconceivable run that began in late June.

The Red Sox recorded their third walk-off win of the season; their last capping a four-game sweep of the rival Yankees on June 28.

It was the club’s longest game by innings since a 13-inning contest at Toronto on Sept. 16, 2023.

“I think today, what you saw was a team that didn’t want to lose,” Tracy said.

Up next: A shot at approaching another franchise record. The Red Sox just completed their ninth straight series win, the longest since a club record of 11 in 1912, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The streaks and the sweeps just keep on coming for the 2026 Red Sox.