BOSTON -- The Red Sox had just provided a walk-off victory, thanks to a three-run homer by Cody Ross in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Boston pitcher Alfredo Aceves grabbed one of the two jugs of liquid in the dugout.
He ripped off the cover and noticed it was water -- not the flavor he was looking for -- so he pulled the cover off the second and saw the bright blue Gatorade. His eyes widened; he grabbed the cooler and headed for home plate.
His teammates were in the middle of the walk-off celebration, aka the "shredder," when Aceves drenched the pearly white Red Sox uniforms with the blue drink.
"It was a celebration, you know," Aceves said after Boston's 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. "Everybody has his own style. There's nothing wrong with that. It's a good thing that we win and we've got to celebrate. When are we going to celebrate? Tomorrow? No. Right after we win."
Every Red Sox player was covered in blue. When asked if he was going to stick around to do laundry, Aceves passed that job along to the team's clubhouse attendants.
"We've got the boys here who do a good job," he said with a smile.
Before Aceves provided his postgame shenanigans, he actually recorded his first victory of the season. Starter Clay Buchholz was solid in his eight innings of work, before exiting with the Red Sox trailing 1-0. Aceves worked a scoreless ninth inning and finished with the win.
"I'm excited about that," he said.
When he started the ninth inning, it appeared as though he was mimicking the wind-up and delivery of fellow Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka -- something Aceves had never done before. When asked about it after the game, Aceves explained that he spoke with bullpen coach Gary Tuck during the game about how the pitcher could increase his velocity. Tuck told the right-hander he needed more consistency with his mechanics, so Aceves decided to switch things up immediately.
"It's not Dice-K. I'm old-school," Aceves said. "I'm big-time old-school. It's got more rhythm. Dice-K stops. I don't stop. I go all the way straight in. When I was in the stretch [to start an inning], I didn't know how to throw the baseball. Now, I'm just going to send my message."