BOSTON -- Slightly envious but also happy for their thriving teammates, Roman Anthony and Trevor Story have watched one magical summer develop at Fenway Park, in which the Red Sox went from afterthoughts to top postseason contenders.
They saw wild wins that didn’t seem possible when the team was 14 games under .500 and on the verge of becoming Trade Deadline sellers as the calendar got close to the end of June.
They saw the stars and the role players step up at the plate and from the mound. They saw a group of players who loved playing together. And all they wanted was to put themselves in position to be a part of it.
The monotony of their rehabs -- and ultimately their Minor League rehab assignments -- reached the point of full payoff on Monday night. It was the duo’s second game back from the IL, and the first at Fenway.
When the madness ended, and the Red Sox had come back from an 8-5 deficit during a wild 9-8, 10-inning win over the Mariners, Story was running for cover as teammates splashed him with water.
“It means a lot,” Story said. “We've been watching from afar for a while, just supporting the boys, just thinking about the time that we can get back on the field and contribute. We would talk about it a lot and just be thinking kind of forward to that, and here we are. It's very fun.”
With the bases loaded and one out, Story sent everyone home with a 105.6 mph rocket to the center-field warning track for a walk-off single.
This is what Story had said on Sunday, the day he and Anthony were activated from the 60-day injured list after missing more than three months of action.
“It's not like heroes are coming back,” Story said. “We're not looking at it that way. These guys have put in the work and done the things and performed on the field to get us to where we're at, and we're just coming in to help that.”
But on Monday, they comfortably slid into the role of heroes. The argument could be that no two players were more crucial to this memorable win.
Story put a comeback in the realistic category when he delivered a two-run double off the Green Monster with two outs in the bottom of the eighth that slimmed a three-run lead to one.
Leading off the ninth inning against Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz was Anthony, who hit a sinking 106.5 mph liner that center fielder Julio Rodríguez played into a triple. It should have been a single. Fenway’s packed house of 37,487 roared as Anthony pulled into third.
“I couldn't really feel my legs,” Anthony said. “It's been a while since I played baseball in that atmosphere and done something like that. So it was amazing. It was good to feel, and even better that we got the job done. So, it was electric.”
Fortunately, Anthony still had something left in those 22-year-old legs. With one out, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a Statcast-projected 258-foot fly to left, and it was fair to wonder if it was deep enough to score Anthony from third.
One thing was for sure: The Red Sox were going to find out. Anthony deftly slid his left hand across the plate before catcher Cal Raleigh tagged him. All tied up.
“No doubt, you’ve got to go there. You’ve got to kind of ride the momentum,” Anthony said. “And that's a great pitcher on the bump. So we’ve got to take advantage of anything we can get. It worked. Baseball instinct kind of just took over.”
Once Aroldis Chapman worked through the top of the 10th without incident, the only question seemed to be which Boston hitter would win the game.
Nick Sogard did his job, pushing the automatic runner to third on a sacrifice bunt. The Mariners then intentionally walked Caleb Durbin and Jarren Duran to load the bases and put the game in Story’s hands.
On a 3-2 count, the 33-year-old took care of business, making his brutal start to the season -- when he played with a sports hernia injury before shutting it down on May 15 -- feel even longer than three and a half months ago.
Maligned on social media and talk radio by those who might not have understood the extent of his injury, Story silenced his critics and thrilled his teammates.
One in particular.
“He's unbelievable. Getting to go through this process with him, I was so happy for him,” Anthony said. “Every at-bat, he just continues to look better and better, and then to trust himself through all the [outside] noise, he’s just a true veteran. He's the same guy every day, good or bad. And to see him do that, it was unbelievable.”