BOSTON — Joe Maddon, the man who controls how often Jared Walsh faces lefties, knows that Walsh isn’t thrilled when he gets benched.

But he certainly enjoys the way Walsh is trying to prove him wrong.

“He’s on a mission,” the Angels manager said after Walsh came up with a hit against a lefty to set the stage for a dramatic 10-5, 10-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night. “This is a wonderful young man who works really hard at his craft. And I was very happy for him.”

The Angels were down to their final strike, trailing by a run, when Walsh singled against lefty Jake Diekman, driving in the tying run. Walsh and Taylor Ward hit home runs in a six-run 10th as the Angels put the game away.

When Walsh was was told of Maddon’s comment about his “mission,” he smiled and said it’s simpler than that.

“I just enjoy playing enjoy playing every day, so I just want as many at bats as I can get,” Walsh said. “I’ve got a short window to live out the dream here.”

A couple of the biggest hits in the major league dream that Walsh has lived have come against lefties. He hit a grand slam last year against New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.

For his career, though, Walsh still has work to do to prove he can hit lefties. Coming into Wednesday’s game, he had a .901 OPS against righties and a .612 mark against lefties.

The hit against Diekman and the homer against Chapman certainly show what Walsh can do against lefties when the pressure is the highest.

“When the whole stadium is going crazy, you got to really slow yourself down and live in that moment,” Walsh said. “That might be it. Just trying to have an extra layer of focus there.”

When Walsh came to the plate in the ninth, he was trying to get the game tied for the third time. Max Stassi’s two-run homer in the fifth — which also snapped the Angels’ 22-inning scoreless streak — had tied the game, 2-2, and Anthony Rendon’s solo homer in the seventh made it 3-3.

They were down 4-3 in the ninth, just after Xander Bogaerts had hit a homer against Aaron Loup in the bottom of the eighth, when the Angels mounted a rally.

Former Angels closer Hansel Robles started the ninth, but he walked Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani with one out. After Anthony Rendon hit a flyout, Walsh came to the plate, and Boston manager Alex Cora went to try to exploit Walsh’s perceived weakness against lefties by bringing in Diekman. Walsh had been hitless in four at-bats against Diekman, with two strikeouts.

“He throws really hard,” Walsh said. “I’ve had my struggles against him. Gotta stay in there and try to see the slider. He throws really hard, so gotta be geared up a mid 90s fastball too. I was thankful I fouled off a few of those sliders until I got one I could drive.”

Walsh fouled off three 3-and-2 pitches before knocking the game-tying hit.

Right-hander Ryan Tepera got the game to extra innings by pitching a scoreless ninth, with a strikeout-caught stealing double play ending it.

The Angels then broke the game open. With two outs in the 10th and the Angels automatic runner still standing at second, Taylor Ward blasted a homer over the center field fence. Trout then singled, Ohtani walked and Rendon hit one off the wall, driving in another.

Walsh then hit one over the wall, turning the game into a rout.

By the time the Angels put the game away in the 10th, the start for lefty Reid Detmers was easily forgotten. Detmers gave up three runs in 4-2/3 innings.

Detmers said he felt like he had “the best stuff I’ve had all year,” even though the results didn’t show it.

In the third, Detmers hung a curveball that Trevor Story yanked into left field, driving in two. In the fifth, Detmers left a slider at the thighs and Story whacked it off the Green Monster.

“I was right there,” Detmers said. “Obviously you don’t want to get to get ahead of yourself. But if I just got ahead a little bit on those two guys, made one more pitch. It would have been a quality start. You just gotta gotta live with it, learn from it and move on.”

Detmers was spared a loss when when Rendon tied the game with his homer, and he also got a boost from Oliver Ortega. Ortega followed Detmers to the mound and pitched 2-2/3 scoreless innings.

“Ortega did a great job out of the bullpen,” Maddon said. “That’s permitted this whole thing to happen. If we had to use more pitchers right there, it gets more problematic later. Give him a lot of credit. It’s a team win…  I love when that happens, and everybody takes part in ownership. It’s always wonderful moment.”