Jarren Duran, Alex Cora shout out Celtics after dramatic Red Sox walkoff win

"The environment was incredible."

Jarren Duran celebrates his walkoff hit following the Red Sox comeback win over the Blue Jays on June 24. Matthew J Lee/Globe Staff

By Hayden Bird

June 25, 2024

Reactions to the Red Sox walkoff: On a night when the newly-crowned champion Celtics stopped by to show off the Larry O’Brien Trophy at Fenway Park, the Red Sox found some magic of their own in a 7-6 comeback win over the Blue Jays.

Boston trailed 6-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but tacked on four clutch runs to tie the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jarren Duran’s single plated Ceddanne Rafaela for the winning run.

“I mean, that was my first walk-off, so I’d have to put it at the top,” Duran said after the game. “I just think that was a really good team win. We went down, and we fought back. We never gave up and that’s why I’m so proud of this team. We just did everything right today and just kept it really simple.”

The Boston outfielder gave a hat tip to the Celtics.

“Maybe [the Celtics] hyped us up a little before the game and we could get that walkoff for them,” said Duran, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. “To see them stay the whole game, and [Celtics guard Derrick White] was wearing a ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ shirt,’ so it was like, ‘All right, that means you guys have got to stay the whole time because it’s not boring.’”

Shown periodically on the big screen, the Celtics (and the trophy) drew eruptions of applause from the thousands of fans.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora praised the operations team for harnessing the Celtics’ energy to full effect.

“The environment was incredible,” Cora said.

“Overall, [the ballpark operations team] did an amazing job using [the Celtics] to get the fans going. Today was loud,” he explained. “They were locked in. They stayed all the way to the end. I think it was a great night at Fenway. I know the boys had fun today.

“I think this is the most they’ve been into the game and loudest since ‘21, to be honest with you,” Cora concluded, referencing the last time the Red Sox made a postseason run to the American League Championship Series.

"The environment was incredible. There's only one chance to have the NBA champions in your clubhouse… Today was loud. They were locked in."

Alex Cora on the @celtics being at Fenway Park and the crowd's energy | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/AhRnTHYcmS
— NESN (@NESN) June 25, 2024

Trivia: Alex Cora actually wasn’t the only future MLB manager picked in the third round of the 1996 MLB Draft. Can you name the other one selected in that span?

(Answer at the bottom).

Hint: A catcher, he was originally picked by the Athletics but would later go on to manage another AL West team to a World Series win. He’s currently a manager in the AL Central.

Scores and schedules:

The Red Sox rallied from a 6-2 deficit by scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth, and then completed the effort with a Jarren Duran walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to secure a 7-6 win over the Blue Jays.

The two teams play again this evening at 7:10 p.m. at Fenway Park.

More from Boston.com:

Game 7 highlights: The Panthers avoided the embarrassment suffered by the 2004 Yankees and only a few other teams in history by winning Game 7 and not blowing a 3-0 series lead on Monday. Florida clinched its first Stanley Cup Final win with a 2-1 victory over the Oilers.

Triple play! The Phillies turned a triple play on Monday, and according to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, it was the first 1-3-5 triple play since the Tigers pulled one off against the Red Sox (also in Detroit) 95 years earlier on July 11, 1929.

🚨 TRIPLE PLAY 🚨 pic.twitter.com/eHmPP4ejv6
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 24, 2024

On this day: Exactly 25 years ago, in 1999, Nomar Garciaparra and the Red Sox pranked the team’s prankster, taping Pedro Martinez to a dugout pole during a 6-1 win over the White Sox at Fenway Park.

Of course, that was an era before dugout fences, meaning that a particularly unlucky foul ball could’ve caused real damage to Boston’s eventual Cy Young Award winner. Luckily, it remained just a memorable light-hearted moment, as Martinez (on his off-day) went to pitch the Red Sox to a win the following day in a 17-1 rout of Chicago.