With the Red Sox temporarily installed as the home team for their final game, the Trop did its best Fenway impression. The team\u2019s usual home hype video rolled on the boards pregame. Red Sox players\u2019 walk-up songs blared as they came to bat. \u201cSweet Caroline\u201d played midway through the eighth inning, as it would in Boston.<\/p>\n
Despite the short notice, it was an extremely well-attended game; the 20,411 paid attendance was nearly 3,000 above the Rays\u2019 average this year, and higher than 58 of 81 their home games.<\/p>\n
Tanner Houck\u2019s long road back from August 2025 Tommy John surgery brought him to the unexpected port of call for his first big-league game since May of last year. The longtime Red Sox righty\u00a0pitched the first three innings, and allowed three earned runs on four hits, with one strikeout and no walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt good to at least get out there, and just be a part of the team,\u201d Houck told reporters postgame. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun to watch from afar. To go out there and actually get to play, after the long process, it\u2019s a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with facial fractures from a foul ball last weekend, Alex Bregman was the most productive player in the game. All three runs Houck allowed came courtesy of his 2025 teammate, who put the Cubs up 2-0 with a home run in the first inning, and homered again in the third.<\/p>\n
Bregman went 4 for 4 with a walk, two homers, a double, three runs and four RBI. His second homer of the game was his 28th of the year, and ensured he would finish the regular season with more home runs than any member of the Red Sox. (Willson Contreras led the roster with a career-high 27.)<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Bregman got us today,\u201d Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said. \u201cBut good to see (Houck) back out there. And being the first time in 15 months, I thought he looked pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26270708744232.jpg\")
Chicago Cubs designated hitter Alex Bregman celebrates his two-run home run in the first inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris Urso)<\/p>\n
Houck threw 50 pitches, 34 for strikes. He is a candidate to join the Boston bullpen for the Wild Card round, particularly with the unexpected loss of righty reliever Tyron Guerrero to the injured list Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s season finale had a way-station quality to it, as the two playoff teams ran out the clock before moving on to their first-round sites. Several stars were subbed out early, including soon-to-be National League MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong, replaced by pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor after a single to begin the game, and Contreras, who returned to the lineup for the first time since taking a pitch to the hand on Sept. 17; Jahmai Jones replaced him as designated hitter in the bottom of the fifth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just getting guys off their feet,\u201d Tracy said.<\/p>\n
Even with Chicago tallying 13 hits to Boston\u2019s five, the game blazed by, the eighth inning well under way by the time it reached the two-hour mark. Red Sox runs came courtesy of Adley Rutschman\u2019s solo home run in the first, and Andruw Monasterio\u2019s game-tying RBI force-out in the second.<\/p>\n
It slowed when Patrick Sandoval could not finish the top of the ninth. The left-hander followed Wyatt Olds\u2019 2\/3 innings with a largely unyielding 4 2\/3 frames. But a 10-pitch at-bat and leadoff single by Miguel Amaya spelled trouble.<\/p>\n
Taylor followed with a single to put runners on the corners, and\u00a0Bregman\u2019s fourth hit, an RBI double, pushed the Cubs\u2019 lead to 4-2. Gabriel Arias\u2019 sacrifice fly plated another run and prompted a pitching change the Red Sox would have preferred to avoid.<\/p>\n
Left-hander Jovani Mor\u00e1n struck out Ian Happ before giving up an RBI double to Michael Conforto, scoring Bregman, and issuing a walk to Massachusetts native Matt Shaw.<\/p>\n
Boston was spared further damage by soon-to-be three-peat Gold Glove right-fielder Wilyer Abreu, who turned Pedro Ramirez\u2019s single into an inning-ending throw home.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox finish their roller-coaster regular season 87-75, the third-best record in the American League, behind their division rival Rays (98-64) and New York Yankees (93-68).<\/p>\n