Red Sox’ ‘marathon’ win included taped-up hero, ‘drenched in sweat’ manager, new ‘pain’ for opponents

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BOSTON — “Thank God the game’s over.”

Interim manager Chad Tracy said that was his first thought when Caleb Durbin hit a walkoff RBI single in the 13th inning to lead the Red Sox to a 12-11 victory over Chicago on Thursday.

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The White Sox and Red Sox played for 4 hours, 23 minutes with a heat advisory in effect. The first-pitch temperature was 89 degrees — and the humidity made it difficult for pitchers to grip the baseball.

“I’m drenched in sweat, and I wasn’t even playing,” Tracy said. “So that gives you an idea of how sticky it was out there.”

Tracy called it a “marathon game” that “ranks at the top of the list” of games he’s witnessed. Durbin’s 103.4 mph single to center field scored Nick Sogard from second base 24 minutes before the clock struck midnight.

“To see the hit go through there and feel like, ‘All right, as long as Sogie doesn’t trip and fall, we should have the game won and get in the locker room and go get some rest,’” Tracy said.

Durbin’s teammates — with Anthony Seigler and Payton Tolle first out of the dugout — swarmed him in between first and second base.

“We wanted that one,” said Durbin, who added that he was “relieved” the game finally ended. “I wanted that one bad. Obviously we wanted that one.”

Durbin remained in the game after jamming his finger while diving into second base following his sixth-inning double. After scoring, Durbin and the trainer went into the clubhouse to tape his finger.

“It’s Durbin. Not surprising,” Tracy said. “If he’s able to be out there and go, he’s going to go.”

Durbin jammed the same pinkie finger that he dislocated June 24 in Colorado.

“I’ve jammed it a couple times since,” Durbin said. “Today, it kind of went a little numb. So I just had to tape it for the rest of the game. But it actually felt better as the game went on.”

The Red Sox overcame five different deficits.

“That’s kind of who we are right now and it’s been showing lately,” Durbin said. “So we’re just gonna fight till the end. And I mean, that’s why we’re here.”

Boston came back after being down 4-0 in the third inning, 7-5 in the fifth inning, 9-7 in the 10th inning, 10-9 in the 11th inning and 11-10 in the 12th inning.

“You guys can ask me questions about the game. I don’t know if I’ll quite remember what inning certain things happened,” Tracy admitted. “It was unbelievable. They just did not want to lose. So it was incredible.”

This game reached extra innings because the Red Sox rallied to tie the score after being down to their final strike in the bottom of the ninth.

Red Sox backup catcher Jake Rogers — acquired along with Adley Rutschman from the Orioles on Monday — played against Boston earlier this year. He was part of the craziness, catching the final five innings after Eli White pinch ran for catcher Connor Wong in the ninth.

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“This team is just a pain in the butt,” Rogers said. “They’re relentless. They’re a bunch of great players and they hustle everywhere — taking extra bases, stealing bases. ... It’s really fun to be on this side and to see them from this dugout perform the way they do. It’s a fun group to be a part of and a great time to be in Boston.”

Rogers became one of those relentless pains in the butt that helped Boston continue to tie the game inning after inning Thursday. His 350-foot RBI sacrifice fly against left-handed reliever Chris Murphy, a former Red Sox pitcher, tied the game 11-11 in the 12th inning. He connected on a 94.4 mph fastball ahead 3-1 in the count.

“Murph there has kind of a good heater,” Rogers said. “It plays at the top of the zone and he’s got a little ride to it. So I just tried to get myself in a great count.”

Brayan Bello — Boston’s final pitcher left — tossed a scoreless top of the 13th inning, stranding the automatic runner at third base.

He threw 28 pitches in two innings and earned the win.

“We only had so many bullets with Bello, too, so it was like, ‘We have to get it done,’” Tracy said.

Tracy said he eventually would have had to use a position player to pitch. And because he had no position players remaining on his bench, he would have had to forfeit the DH, bring in a position player to pitch and put the DH in the field.

“We might have had one more inning with him (Bello),” Tracy said.

Tracy was down a position player anyway with Willson Contreras unable to play due to being sick. So the manager said he had to be deliberate in his decisions on when to use players off the bench.

“But then you get to a certain part of the game where it’s like, ‘We’ve gotta go. We’ve gotta run here,’” Tracy said.

“We were out of bullets for probably most of extra innings,” Tracy added. “It is what it is at that point.”

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