Red Sox Outfielder Hunter Renfroe Made an Epic Throw to Beat the Rays
Right on the money
The Red Sox aren’t going to catch the Rays in the division race, but Boston’s game Wednesday night against Tampa Bay was still a big one. The Red Sox entered the night having lost their last three games as they maintain a slim lead over the Yankees and Blue Jays in the wild-card race.
Boston was trailing 1–0 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Hunter Renfroe came to bat. He smashed a towering two-run homer over the Green Monster to give his team the lead.
Red Sox closer Hansel Robles got two quick strikeouts in the ninth, but then Joey Wendle hit a sharp liner to center that escaped the reach of a diving Danny Santana. Renfroe backed him up, though, and tracked the ball down on the edge of the warning track as Wendle motored toward third. He then uncorked a perfect one-hop throw to third that nailed Wendle just in time.
If you watch only one angle of the throw, make it this one.
It doesn’t get any better than that. You need to have some ridiculous arm strength to uncork a throw that strong from the deepest part of the ballpark. And Renfroe has some ridiculous arm strength. That wasn’t the only impressive throw he made Wednesday night. He also nabbed Manuel Margot at second as he attempted to stretch a single into a double in the fourth.
Those two assists gave Renfroe 16 on the year, the most of any outfielder in the majors. No other outfielder has more than 12.
The game-sealing play was also a bit of redemption for Renfroe after Monday’s game, when he failed to back up center fielder Alex Verdugo and Austin Meadows scored the game-tying run in the ninth on an inside-the-park home run.
For his heroic effort Wednesday night, Renfroe was rewarded with a classic Gatorade shower from his teammates.
Who wants free stuff?
I know I always say a giveaway is a good one when I do them, but this one is a really good one. Today I’ve got four copies of the Call of Duty: Vanguard beta to give away. (Important note: These are only Xbox codes.) For more information on the game and beta access, visit this link.
Here’s how to win:
- Go back to Wednesday’s Hot Clicks.
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- Send me an email (dan.gartland@si.com) with Call of Duty giveaway as the subject line and all three names in the body text.
- The 10th, 20th, 30th and 40th persons to follow those instructions will win.
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