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Rays Outlast Red Sox In Marathon Contest

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

The Rays celebrate at homeplate after another dramatic finish.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2008

ST PETERSBURG - The Rays are right back in it.

A spellbinding night of baseball finally came to an end at 1:35 a.m. Sunday as Fernando Perez slid stylishly across home plate with the winning run, scoring on a shallow sacrifice fly off B.J. Upton's bat in the bottom of the 11th to give the Rays a 9-8 triumph over the Red Sox.

The victory pulled the Rays even at 1-1 in the American League Championship Series as Tampa Bay narrowly avoided what might have been an insurmountable two-game deficit with the series shifting to Fenway Park for three games beginning Monday afternoon.

"It wasn't a must-win today, but we definitely would have liked to win this game going into Boston," said Upton. "We came out with the win and I think it gives us a little bit of momentum going in there."

It was only fitting for the Rays that they scored the final run at the expense of veteran Boston reliever Mike Timlin, who also served up the 14th-inning Carlos Pena homer that lifted the Rays to a stunning victory at Fenway on Sept. 10. Timlin loaded the bases in the 11th on three walks, one of them intentional, before Upton got just enough of an opposite-field fly ball on a 0-2 pitch.

Perez was pinch-running for Dioner Navarro, who drew a full-count walk to open the 11th. He was pushed over to third on a gutsy base on balls by Ben Zobrist, who watched a few borderline pitches pass before taking his base, and a Jason Bartlett groundout. The Red Sox intentionally walked Akinori Iwamura to load the bases, but Upton did his job by putting the ball in the air to give Perez a chance.

The ball was shallow but toward the line, giving J.D. Drew a long run to get it and keeping him from setting his feet after he made the grab. Upton considered it "borderline" as sacrifice fly chances go, but "I knew Fernando was going to take a chance."

Third base coach Tom Foley didn't discourage the speedster, and he made it in without trouble as Drew's throw went in off-line.

"That's not a ball very many people go on, and really all I'm waiting to hear is, 'No, no, no!' because I'm so geared up to go," said Perez. "We just err on the side of aggressiveness and it worked out for us."

With that, it was on to Boston for Game 3, the Rays bolstered with new life as they look to continue the Fenway Park success they found in a couple of high-wire wins last month.

Whatever happens from here on out will have a difficult time living up to Saturday's contest, a high-intensity affair from the beginning. The Rays knew another loss at home would all but put them on the brink of elimination with three games at Fenway still to come.

But now they need prevail in only one of them to force the series back to Tropicana Field, and that return for Game 6 can't come soon enough for them after they regained their footing in an all-night test of their mettle.

The game unfolded in fits and starts, the clock passing midnight before the first out was recorded in the bottom of the eighth inning. It ultimately took five hours, 27 minutes to complete, with many remaining from the original paid crowd of 34,904.

By the end, it certainly qualified as the Rays' first fall classic, a game that undoubtedly busted bedtimes all around Tampa Bay as the home team's postseason fate hung in the balance.

"That was a physically and mentally exhausting game," said Evan Longoria. "But in those situations, especially in October, you've really got to bear down, and we did a good job of it today. "

The wide-ranging display of offensive firepower was the stylistic opposite of Friday's series opener between the teams, a pitchers' duel in which every base-runner was a precious commodity.

The Rays got the better of two bad starting pitching performances, as neither Scott Kazmir (charged with five runs in 4 1/3 innings) nor Josh Beckett (eight runs, 4 1/3 innings) distinguished himself when handed a lead. Beckett blew a two-run lead in the bottom of the first, then a one-run edge in the third. Kazmir squandered a 5-3 advantage in the fifth – the final inning for both starters, though each team had a reliever warming up as early as the third.

Kazmir was almost despondent after the game. He met behind closed doors with Manager Joe Maddon and his confidence appeared to have bottomed out hours after his work for the evening was complete.

"I just think I kind of got out of my groove," Kazmir said. "My slider's not biting, it feels like my [velocity is] not there – it's just frustrating."

Thanks to his and Beckett's difficulties, the game was well into the slugfest realm by the time the bullpens were called into play, with the star attractions on each side doing most of the damage.

Jason Bay started it off in the top of the first with a two-run double and would later add a solo homer and RBI single, while Dustin Pedroia tallied a pair of solo homers off Kazmir. Longoria wasn't far behind, busting out of his slump with a two-run homer in the first and doubles in the third and fifth innings as he drove in a total of three runs and scored three times. Carl Crawford contributed RBI singles in the third and fifth.

Kevin Youkilis, Upton and Cliff Floyd also homered as the teams traded one haymaker after another and ERAs skyrocketed. The seven total home runs set a record for an ALCS game.

Despite all the big lumber thrown around, the pivotal run scored without a swing. Dan Wheeler's airmailed pitch to the backstop with two out in the eighth inning allowed Pedroia to scamper home ahead of a flailing flip by Navarro, tying the game at 8-8.

Wheeler redeemed himself by wrapping up the eighth, holding the Red Sox scoreless through the ninth by striking out Jacoby Ellsbury to end it after allowing a two-out ground-rule double to Coco Crisp and setting them down in order in the 10th. He got the first out in the 11th before walking Jed Lowrie on his 48th pitch and turning it over to David Price, who got the win.

"This was an amazing game," said Wheeler. "It was a dogfight. We knew coming into this series what it was going to be like facing these guys – it's been like that all season against these guys."

But none of them have been like this.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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