Red Sox gift Blue Jays a win on Reese McGuire's game-ending baserunning blunder

There are crazy endings to baseball games and then there's what happened at Fenway Park on Saturday.

As the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox squared off in one of the most pivotal series of the season for both squads, a critical baserunning mistake squashed the home team’s chances of pulling off a memorable comeback.

After Toronto scored what proved to be a vital insurance run in the top of the ninth inning, Boston’s lineup began the bottom half trailing 5-3 but cut that deficit to one run with three straight singles off reliever Erik Swanson. That put runners on first and second with only one out as catcher Connor Wong stepped to the plate.

With Red Sox fans on the edge of their seats, Wong sent a 101.5-mph fly ball to center field that appeared high enough to hit off the wall or clear it entirely.

Only it didn’t do either.

Instead, Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier caught it at the base of the wall.

Almost everyone at Fenway Park thought it was a game-winning home run, including Red Sox baserunner Reese McGuire and third base coach Carlos Febles.

Thinking his team had just earned a walk-off victory, McGuire jogged away from second base and raised his arm in celebration right after Wong made contact. Febles also thought the game had just been won, and waved McGuire home.

Once Kiermaier secured the ball, he immediately threw it to second base to double off McGuire — the former Blue Jays catcher — to end the game.

The wild sequence left the home crowd stunned at what it just witnessed, and understandably so. It was an inexcusable blunder and a costly one as well, as it dropped the Red Sox to four games back of the Blue Jays for the final American League wild-card spot.

And baseball fans definitely didn’t hold back in their criticism of the Red Sox’s awful baserunning.

Not Boston's first egregious baserunning blunder this year

Saturday's disastrous ending wasn't a standalone mistake, as the 2023 Red Sox have blatantly given away outs on the bases before.

Boston’s baserunning woes came under fire just a few weeks ago when the Atlanta Braves turned a unique 8-3-5 triple play against them on July 25 — the first one executed since the 1885 Boston Beaneaters.

Cora rips Red Sox after the game

Boston manager Alex Cora was extremely disappointed with his team’s execution, saying postgame that the Red Sox “took a step back as a team.” He then described it as one of his worst days with the franchise.

Cora also revealed that outfielder Alex Verdugo was unavailable due to a manager’s decision.

Verdugo didn’t dispute Cora’s comments but alluded to not completely agreeing with his skipper's decision. The 27-year-old was originally pencilled into Saturday’s starting lineup before becoming a late scratch. He was replaced by Adam Duvall in right field.