Rays nip Sox in 11 innings
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays won a game of home run derby with a shallow fly ball.
Pinch-runner Fernando Perez dashed home on Upton’s sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and the Rays outlasted the Boston Red Sox 9-8 early today, evening the A.L. Championship Series at one game each.
The teams combined for seven home runs, tying a postseason record. The Rays wound up winning a game that lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes when the speedy Perez tagged up on Upton’s one-out fly and beat right fielder J.D. Drew’s throw home.
“Like I said, in a straight-up race, I’ve got him over Seabiscuit,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I’m dating myself a bit. I’m sorry, but that’s the first horse that came to my mind.”
The series shifts to Fenway Park for Game 3 Monday, with left-hander Jon Lester pitching for Boston against Matt Garza.
“We did not want to go to Boston down 0-2,” said Evan Longoria, who homered for Tampa Bay. “It’s 1:30 in the morning and we pulled it out.”
Dustin Pedroia homered twice for Boston, and scored his fourth run on a wild pitch in the eighth that made it 8-all.
Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin walked Dioner Navarro and Ben Zobrist to begin the 11th and Jason Bartlett grounded out, moving runners to second and third, and Akinori Iwamura was intentionally walked.
Upton, who had homered earlier, followed with his fly ball down the right-field line.
“The main thing there is not to strike out,” Upton said.
Drew settled under the ball, but rushed and a two-hop throw up the third-base line. Perez scored easily, showing off his best asset – he stole 43 bases in Triple-A this season, and went 5 for 5 on steal tries with Tampa Bay.
Another rookie, David Price, earned the win. He entered with a runner on first and one out in the 11th and walked Drew, but struck out Mark Kotsay and retired Coco Crisp on a grounder.
“It’s been like that all year, someone stepping up,” Longoria said. “There’s different heroes every day.”
Jonathan Papelbon pitched 12/3 scoreless innings, getting the defending World Series champion Red Sox to the 11th. He extended his career postseason scoreless streak to a major league-record 22 innings over 14 appearances, despite getting struck by Carl Crawford’s liner.
Cliff Floyd, Longoria and Upton homered for Tampa Bay off struggling Josh Beckett. The wild-card Red Sox homered three times in the fifth inning, with Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis connecting off Scott Kazmir and Jason Bay tagging Grant Balfour.
After Boston won the ALCS opener 2-0, the teams came out swinging for the fences. All seven homers came in the first five innings.
The Red Sox and Ray matched the postseason record for homers set in the 1989 World Series and tied in the NLCS in 2003 and 2006.
Down 8-6, the Red Sox rallied within a run in the sixth on an RBI single by Bay.
Pedroia led off the eighth with a single against Chad Bradford and reliever Trever Miller walked David Ortiz.
Dan Wheeler took over and got Youkilis to ground into a double play. With Bay at the plate, Wheeler threw a pitch over the glove of Navarro that went to the backstop that allowed Pedroia to score.