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Wong entered the game on defense in the bottom of the eighth inning after Masataka Yoshida had pinch-hit for starting catcher Carlos Narváez. He then made things interesting in the top of the ninth, taking Hogan Harris deep for a two-run homer to bring the Red Sox within a run for his second homer of the season. The 30-year-old backstop has taken a larger share of the workload behind the plate and has been hitting the ball well, slashing .271/.359/.383 with 17 RBI across 157 plate appearances.

It’s far from ideal that the Red Sox are DHing Wong against lefties on occasion, but it worked out today. Wong had gone 99 plate appearances this year and 188 last year without homering after hitting 13 in 487 plate appearances in 2024. He has hit a respectable .270/.356/.393 in his part-time role this season.

The double was originally ruled a homer, which would have been Wong’s first since Sept. 2024, but it was overturned. The ball hit the top padding on the wall, appeared to sink behind the wall, but then bounced back into play. It would have been his sixth career homer against Cleveland, which is kind of nuts. The only other team he has more than two against is Cincinnati (three in eight games), so it must be an Ohio thing. He has eight homers in 22 games against those two clubs and 15 in 359 games against everyone else.

Wong appears to have avoided major injury after rolling his ankle on a bizarre-looking play during the eighth inning of Wednesday’s win over the Phillies. He was replaced by Carlos Narváez behind the plate in the ninth inning of the contest. It doesn’t sound like a massive concern.

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo says it’s a $1.375 million deal. Wong had a disastrous 2025, hitting just .190/.262/.238 with seven RBI in 188 plate appearances, and there was thought the Red Sox might try to upgrade behind Carlos Narváez. Still, there just aren’t many quality backups available at the moment, and Wong settled for $600,000 more than the MLB minimum in his first year of arbitration. He might bounce back somewhat offensively, but he’ll definitely take a backseat to Narváez when it comes to playing time.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a carpal boss is a bony overgrowth or lump on the back of the hand or wrist. The problem might have contributed to Wong’s downfall this season, as he went homerless while batting .190//262/.238 in 188 plate appearances. Although he’ll be relatively inexpensive as a first-time arbitration-eligible player, here’s a good chance the Red Sox will move on from him this winter.