Wong makes most of big opportunity as Sox top first-place Blue Jays

Apr. 20—This has been a long time coming for Connor Wong.

The Red Sox top catching prospect, originally acquired as part of the Mookie Betts trade two years ago, has largely bided his time since joining the organization. Last year he only appeared in six big league games and spent the summer bouncing between the majors and Triple-A Worcester, but with both Christian Vázquez and Kevin Plawecki out with COVID-19 the rookie suddenly became one of the most important players in the organization.

Given a chance to really make an impact, Wong made sure to make the opportunity count.

With the game tied and the go-ahead runner on third base in the bottom of the seventh, Wong delivered what wound up being the game-winning sacrifice fly to help deliver the Red Sox a 2-1 win over the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Beyond his clutch fly ball to deep right field, Wong also held his own behind the plate, deftly managing the pitching staff while holding the high-powered Blue Jays offense to just one run.

"It's a good opportunity but the main objective is to win, to win as many games as we can, and while I'm here that's what I want to do," Wong said afterwards. "If I perform well and we win then it's even better."

Wong's performance didn't come as any surprise to Nathan Eovaldi, the Red Sox starting pitcher who allowed one run over 4.2 innings. Eovaldi and Wong both live in Texas and Wong often catches for him during the offseason, but he said what really stood out was how Wong handled the other pitchers, many of whom he'd never caught before.

"Wong did a fantastic job behind the plate, first game up here, a great offense for Toronto and we were able to hold them at bay and I felt like he did a great job calling the game," said Eovaldi, who pitched around seven hits and a walk while striking out six. "He's real familiar with all my pitches but I felt like he handled everyone else real good out there tonight.

Wong and the pitching made the difference on a day the Red Sox offense wasn't firing on all cylinders. Boston was only 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position and squandered both a two-on, no out situation in the first and a men on second and third with no outs in the fourth. The lone clutch hit came courtesy of Trevor Story, who followed Kiké Hernández's third inning double with an RBI double of his own to tie the game after Zack Collins' second inning solo home run.

But that plus Wong's sacrifice fly proved sufficient, and given all of the difficulty of the past two days with three players testing positive for COVID-19, manager Alex Cora wanted to give his team every chance to win. He used all of his highest leverage relievers, calling upon Matt Strahm, Hansel Robles, Jake Diekman and Garrett Whitlock, and they combined for 4.1 scoreless innings to close out the win.

"There are certain days where, you know what, the human element takes over. It seemed like a playoff game, right? So I managed it like a playoff game," Cora said. "It was a very heavy day for everybody, a lot of stuff going on, and you know what? I went for the win."

With the win Boston improves to 6-5 and moves into a tie for first in the AL East with the Blue Jays. The two clubs will meet again at Fenway Park Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m., with Nick Pivetta (0-2) slated to face Jose Berrios (0-0).

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com. Twitter: @MacCerullo.