After getting blanked by the Rays 5-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS on Thursday night, the Red Sox responded with a resounding 14-6 victory on Friday in Game 2 at Tropicana Field but they topped that today by surviving a 13-inning marathon (fitttingly a day before the first Boston Marathon to ever be held in October) and winning 6-4 on a walk-off two-run homer (the first of the playoffs) by catcher Christian Vazquez. Suddenly, they have a 2-1 series lead (remember it is only a best-of-five series) with a chance to eliminate Tampa tomorrow night (7:07, FS1). Vazquez is the obvious hero for the Sox but their starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (5 IP, 2 ER, 3 hits, 8 Ks, 1 BB) was good and Nick Pivetta (1-0) was brilliant with four scoreless innings of relief (with 7 strikeouts) to get the win.
Boston outhit Tampa Bay 15-10 with center fielder Kike Hernandez (3-for-6, HR, 2 RBIs), first baseman Kyle Schwarber (3-for-5, HR, 2 runs) and second baseman Christian Arroyo (3-for-5, 2B, run) all having huge performances at the plate. Other than Vazquez's bomb (only the 8th time in MLB history that a catcher has hit a walk-off HR in extra innings), the play that will be remembered for eternity from Game 3 was a bizarre ground-rule double that turned out to be an enormous break for the home team. With pinch hitter Yandy Diaz on first base after a one-out single, center fielder Kevin Kiermaier roped a two-out double to right field that bounced off the wall, then ricocheted off right fielder Hunter Renfroe and over the wall. Diaz would have easily scored the go-ahead run but according to the MLB rule, it was a ground-rule double which meant that Diaz did not score and Kiermaier could not advance to third base. Instead, Pivetta struck out catcher Mike Zunino (0-for-6 with 4 strikeouts) to end the top of the 13th inning.
Renfroe walked with one out in the bottom of the 13th inning against Tampa Bay's reliever Luis Patino (0-1). That set the stage for the most memorable hit of Vazquez's Red Sox/MLB career as he hit a fly ball that just got over the Green Monster and into the front row of seats up there. Each club had a two-run lead earlier in the game: left fielder Austin Meadows hit a two-run blast (his 1st of the playoffs) to right in the first inning that scored Rays phenom Wander Franco for a 2-0 advantage. Boston chipped away with a lead-off shot by Schwarber (his first of the postseason) in the first inning then Kike's RBI single in the third inning plated Arroyo with the tying run. Third baseman Rafael Devers (did you know that his arm/wrist doesn't feel well?) followed with another run-scoring single that scored Schwarber and gave the Sox a 3-2 lead-their first of Game 3.
Hernandez set a franchise record with a hit in seven consecutive plate appearances and he put an exclamation point on that with a solo home run (his 2nd of the series) to left in the fifth inning. Tampa's two-run deficit only lasted until the eighth inning when Franco hit a solo homer (his 1st of the playoffs) to left and outfielder Randy Arozarena tied it on an RBI double that scored pinch runner Manuel Margot. Starting extra innings with a runner on second base is only a regular season thing hence why this contest took over five ours to complete. Red Sox manager Alex Cora had to mix and match with five other relievers before he left Pivetta (who originally was supposed to start Game 4) in there for good. By using an opener-Drew Rasmussen who lasted two innings-Rays manager Kevin Cash was forced to put in seven (!) other relievers before Patino fell apart in his second inning of work.
As you can imagine, the Red Sox no doubt want to end this if possible on Monday. They want no part of a winner-take-all Game 5 on Wednesday back at the Trop. Furthermore, there is plenty of pressure on Tampa as well since they reached the World Series last year and rolled to an AL East title thanks to 100 regular season victories. Eduardo Rodriguez could not get out of the second inning in Game 1 vs. Tampa but he will receive a major chance to redeem himself in Game 4 because he will start for Boston. Besides Pivetta, all the other Red Sox pitchers that came out of the bullpen tonight threw less than 20 pitches meaning I think they would be available if needed tomorrow night. The most effective were Ryan Brasier (who pitched a scoreless inning with 1 strikeout) and Garrett Whitlock who nailed down the last four outs (3 strikeouts) to send the tight matchup to extra innings. Thanks to Chicago's 12-6 pasting of Houston this evening, no teams will be swept in the ALDS or NLDS this season. All four series will be in action tomorrow so it should be a great day (and night) for baseball.
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