How Mickey Gasper was an unsung hero for Red Sox in his Major League debut
BOSTON -- The Red Sox badly needed a win on Monday night. A late-game boost came from an unlikely source: New Hampshire's own Mickey Gasper helped Boston snap a four-game skid with a key plate appearance in his Major League debut.
Not many had heard of the 28-year-old Gasper ahead of Monday night. Gasper himself didn't know he'd be playing in Boston until Monday afternoon.
Gasper was enjoying an off day in Worcester when he finally found out that he was getting the call to the big leagues. He had gotten his haircut and just did a little food shopping to cook some dinner when his phone rang around 2:30 p.m. It was WooSox manager Chad Tracy, letting Gasper know that he had to get to Fenway Park. He was trading in his Worcester jersey for a Boston one as the Red Sox were opening a three-game set against the Texas Rangers, and needed another body following the two-game suspension of outfielder Jaren Duran for directing a homophobic slur toward a fan on Sunday.
Gasper dropped everything and made the trek to the city. Not even Massachusetts traffic could put a damper on his excitement. The Merrimack native, who played his college ball at Bryant in Rhode Island, was finally getting his shot in the Majors.
"I've always thought the big leagues were realistic. People told me that I'm a big league hitter before," Gasper told reporters after Monday night's game. "Anything short of the big leagues just didn't seem like a possibility for me."
Unfortunately for Gasper, he had to wait a while for this moment. A 27th-round pick by the New York Yankees in 2018, the switch-hitter toiled in the New York farm system for six years before joining the Boston organizations over the winter through the Rule 5 Draft. He played 44 games for Double-A Portland and raked for 40 games in Worcester before getting his call to the Majors on Monday.
Gasper earned this promotion, hitting .401 with eight homers and 32 RBI for the WooSox. He drew 29 walks in Triple-A, boasting a .515 OBP at that level.
That plate discipline was on display when Alex Cora told Gasper to get his helmet and bat and pinch-hit for lefty David Hamilton in the bottom of the 10th inning on Monday night. Emmanuel Valdez had tied the game, 4-4, with an RBI double to lead off the frame, and Nick Sogard followed with a single. After Ceddanne Rafaela grounded into a fielder's choice, Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy went to his bullpen for southpaw Walter Pennington.
So Cora turned to his new switch-hitting utility man. Gasper fell behind 1-2 to Pennington, but he didn't worry. He didn't bite at a pair of low breaking pitches to make it a full count, and after fouling off a sinker, he finished his plate appearance with a seven-pitch walk. It put a Boston runner at every base.
"I was so calm up there," Gasper said after the game. "I guess I felt like I was at home. I don't know. I was relaxed. Saw the first couple pitches, was a little upset he dotted that sinker on me. That was a good pitch to hit. But it's all right. I moved on, just kept my breathing, stayed composed, and had some fun up there."
He had even more fun two batters later when Rob Refsnyder walked it off with a game-winning single, lifting the Red Sox to a 5-4 victory. After the game, it was Gasper who got the celebratory brewski shower for drawing that key walk.
"A lot of the credit goes to [Gasper]," Refsnyder said after the victory. "That was a huge at-bat. We gave him a beer shower to celebrate his debut and it was just a fantastic job by him."
After the day started in disappointing fashion with the Duran fallout, Gasper's debut and big at-bat gave Boston a much-needed boost of positivity on Monday night.