Inside The Red Sox

Watch Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts Belt Grand Slam Over Green Monster Vs. Rays

The shot extended the Sox lead to five

Scott Neville

Watch Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts Belt Grand Slam Over Green Monster Vs. Rays
Watch Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts Belt Grand Slam Over Green Monster Vs. Rays /
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If this is the last couple of games of Xander Bogaerts' tenure with the Boston Red Sox, he's chosen to go out in style. 

The longtime Red Sox shortstop belted a no-doubt, 421-foot grand slam over the Green Monster against Tampa Bay Rays reliever Colin Poche to extend the lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

It was Bogaerts' 15th home run of the season and boosted his RBI total to a respectable 73 in what some would consider a down year for the 30-year-old.

The blast brought his season numbers to .305 with 53 extra-base hits, the aforementioned 73 RBIs, 84 runs and a .831 OPS in 149 games. 

It wasn't a lock for Bogey to make the lineup, as he was out on Monday with back tightness. Boston fans can be thankful that he woke up feeling better, as he drastically shifted the course of the game with a massive blast. 

Bogaerts wasn't able to capture the American League Batting Title after a slight offensive drought, but he's certainly ending strong.

The game entered a rain delay after the bottom of the fifth inning with the Red Sox up 6-0 over the Rays.

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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