Kiermaier hits walk-off HR in 10th after Red Sox break up Rays' no-hit bid
The strangest game of the 2022 season got the bizarre ending it deserved.
Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier hit a two-run walk-off homer in the 10th inning to give his team a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox - just minutes after the Red Sox broke up the Rays' combined no-hitter in the top half of the frame.
IN(KK)REDIBLE pic.twitter.com/pumna1AhTT
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 24, 2022
An elated Kiermaier revealed postgame that it was his first walk-off homer at any level, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
"I've always dreamed of that," he told Bally Sports Florida. "I wanted to play in a World Series, I'd love to win a World Series. But I said before my career is over, I would do anything to hit a walk-off homer. ... I felt like a 12-year-old rounding the bases."
Red Sox first baseman Bobby Dalbec ended the Rays' no-hit bid with an RBI triple off reliever Matt Wisler to lead off the 10th. Dalbec then came around to score, giving Boston a 2-0 lead.
That's one way to break up a no-hitter! pic.twitter.com/VIDCJjzmg8
— MLB (@MLB) April 24, 2022
The Red Sox appeared poised to win in the bottom half before second baseman Trevor Story's throwing error allowed the Rays' ghost runner to score. Kiermaier immediately stepped up and walked it off in jaw-dropping fashion.
"Just a bad throw. I probably had a little more time than I thought," Story said, according to MassLive's Christopher Smith. "But that's just on me. That's all on me, for sure."
Six Rays pitchers - opener J.P. Feyereisen, Javy Guerra, Jeffrey Springs, Jason Adam, Ryan Thompson, and Andrew Kittredge - had combined to throw nine no-hit innings while striking out five Red Sox batters and walking five.
It was the 15th time in major league history that a no-hit bid was broken up in extra innings, per NoNoHitters.com. MLB doesn't officially count nine-inning no-hitters broken up in extras.
The Rays' lone no-no in franchise history was a complete-game effort from Matt Garza in 2010. The Red Sox, meanwhile, were last no-hit by the Oakland Athletics' Sean Manaea in 2018.