Talkin Sport - Tampa Bay Rays Even Series with Boston Red Sox in Wild Game

Evan Longoria went 3-5 with two doubles a homerun and 3 RBIs, Carl Crawford was 2-5 with a pair of RBIs and B.J. Upton was 1-4 with a homerun and 2 RBIs, the last being a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 9-8 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game Two of the ALCS to even their series 1-1.

Neither starter did the job as Tampa’s Scott Kazmir 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits while Boston’s Josh Beckett was equally bad, giving up eight runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Beckett was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Jason Bay hit a two-run double but he coughed up that advantage when he surrendered a two-run blast to Longoria in the bottom half of the frame.

Boston gave Beckett the lead once again in the top of the third when Dustin Pedroia hit a solo shot off Kazmir for a 3-2 lead but the Rays came right back in their half of the inning as B.J. Upton tied the score with a solo homer and Carl Crawford singled home Cliff Floyd. Floyd then boosted the Tampa advantage to 5-3 in the fourth with a solo homer but the Red Sox came back in the top of the fifth with three solo shots of their own from Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Bay for a 6-5 lead.

That lead was short-lived as the Rays put three runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Carlos Pena singled home Upton, Longoria doubled home Pena and Crawford singled home Longoria to put the score at 8-6.

The Red Sox put a run on the board in the sixth on an RBI single from Bay and then tied the game in the eighth when Dan Wheeler threw a wild pitch that scored Pedroia to tie the game at 8-8. While Wheeler allowed the tying run he also got the Rays through into the eleventh without allowing another run, setting the stage for Tampa’s win in the bottom of that frame.

In the bottom of the eleventh Mike Timlin came on to relieve Jonathan Papelbon and he walked Dioner Navarro to start the inning and Felix Perez came on to run for the catcher. Ben Zobrist then drew a walk to put runners at first and second and after Jason Bartlett moved them over to second and third Timlin issued an intentional walk to Akinora Iwamura to load the bases. Upton then came up and lifted the sacrifice fly to right that scored Felix Perez to win the game.

Game Three will now shift to Boston where the Red Sox will send Jon Lester to the hill while the Rays counter with Matt Garza. First pitch is scheduled to be delivered at 4:37 p.m. ET on Monday.

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Gary St Clair