If we were in charge of writing the script for the Strangest But Truest baseball game of the year, we’d probably dream up something like this:A team that trailed in the ninth inning …And the 10th inning …And the 11th inning …And the 12th inning …And still won.Even in a universe teeming with Zombie Runners, that still seems impossible. Right?Ho-ho-ho. Have you been to Fenway Park lately?Last week, on a Thursday night unlike any in Fenway history, the Red Sox played — and won — a game in which that script somehow came to life.Red Sox 12, White Sox 11, in 13 surreal innings. Epic baseball theater. But here’s the reason it deserved a special edition of the Weird and Wild column:A team wins after trailing in four different extra innings? Crazy. But believe it or not, that wasn’t even the Strange But True part.If you’re ready for that part, here we go.Why the Red Sox resurgence is historicKen Rosenthal and Johnny SweetTake fiveIn the Greatest World Series Game Ever Played (don’t @ me) — Game 6, 2011* — the Cardinals won a game in which they trailed five different times. You don’t see that much!(*paging David Freese)But on this night of Fenway Magic, you know how many times the Red Sox fell behind the White Sox? Yep. That would be five.They trailed, 5-2, in the fourth — and tied it.They trailed, 7-6, in the ninth — and tied it again.They trailed, 9-7, in the 10th … and 10-9 in the 11th … and 11-10 in the 12th … and tied it yet again in all of those innings … before winning in the 13th.Thanks to the work of the great Katie Sharp from Baseball Reference, we can tell you just how rarified that was — even for a Red Sox team that was such a baseball fireball, it had gone 25-3 in its previous 28 games.Since the David Freese Game … this was only the third time any team had won a game after trailing at least five times. This sport made it through a whole decade without another team doing it. But since then — because, well … baseball — this was the third game like that in the last five seasons.The others to pull off that feat: the White Sox on July 6, 2022 (White Sox 9, Twins 8) and the Guardians on June 9, 2023 (Guardians 10, Astros 9 in 14 madcap innings). Meanwhile …The Red Sox have played nearly 20,000 games in franchise history … but Ted Williams never played in a game like this … and Carl Yastrzemski never played in a game like this … and good old Denton (Cy) Young never played in a game like this.That’s because there had been only two other instances — in the 117 years of data in the Baseball Reference archives — that the Red Sox had ever won a game after trailing five times. The others: June 13, 1996 (Red Sox 8, Rangers 7) and April 17, 2006 (Red Sox 7, Mariners 6).The Magic Number was 443Ranger Suárez was one of nine pitchers used by the Red Sox. The White Sox used eight. The teams combined for 443 pitches. (David Butler II / Imagn Images)To make it through this 4-hour, 23-minute marathon, these teams had to launch a ridiculous 443 pitches toward home plate. That’s the most in any game at Fenway in the Zombie Runner era (since 2020).