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On Wednesday night, the Red Sox clinched the AL East title for 2016 by virtue of the Orioles' win over the Blue Jays. For a long time, it appeared that the Sox would punctuate said division crown with a win over the rival Yankees in the Bronx. After all, the Sox entered the bottom of the ninth with a 3-0 lead and closer Craig Kimbrel on the mound. That added up to a 96 percent chance of triumph for the visiting team from Boston.

Well, as it turned out, expectations were not met. Kimbrel lacked command and yielded a single followed by three walks before being lifted in favor of Joe Kelly. Kelly promptly struck out Starlin Castro and induced a weak pop-up out of Didi Gregorius. That brought the soon-to-be-retired Mark Teixeira to the plate with two out, the bases loaded, and the home team down by two runs. Now let's roll color-television footage ...

That's Teixeira's 15th homer of the season and the 409th of his excellent career. Speaking of which, here's what Tex said after the game:

"I hope this was my last home run. I really do. That was incredible. These fans. I love you guys."

The Yankees are on the brink of being eliminated from the wild card race, but that's a pretty nifty last blow to get in against the division champs. Your thoughts, Dustin Pedroia?

Yeah, well, an AL East crown certainly makes it easier to shake such things off.