Oakland's Terrence Long misplayed a fly ball which opened the door to an early Red Sox barrage, and Boston held on for a 7-5 victory. The Red Sox now lead the series 2-1 and are one win away from a berth to the ALCS. Red Sox DH David Ortiz made the A's pay after Oakland starter Barry Zito retired the first two Red Sox to open the game. Nomar Garciaparra sent a seemingly innocuous fly ball into left, but Long simply whiffed on the chance as Nomah scampered to second. The story of the night would be the clutch hitting of the Red Sox as Boston scored 6 of their 7 runs with 2 out. Manny Ramirez then took ball four to send Big Papi to the plate, and the big man crushed a 421-foot blast to right field giving Boston an early 3-0 lead. This was the second consecutive game that Boston made good on an extra out. In Game 2, it wasn't enough, but in this time the Red Sox made it stand up. Ortiz is now slashing .400/.500/.667 in the playoffs and is tied with Jason Varitek for the team lead in RBI with 5. Below is a closer look at his prodigious shot.
Boston scored their fourth run of the game the very next inning. After striking out Trot Nixon and Bill Mueller, Zito hung a curveball to Jason Varitek, and he deposited it into the Monster seats to push the lead to 4-0. The 2003 campaign was the inaugural season for this vantage point on the legendary wall, and this would be the first of two souvenirs in the contest for a few of those lucky fans. Varitek is tied for the team lead in batting average in the playoffs with Bill Mueller. Each player hitting a sizzling .437, but Jason sits alone on the leader board in slugging with a brawny .812 mark.
Boston starter John Burkett was a force setting down the first 14 A's in order. Oakland's first hit of the game came in the fifth inning as Ramon Hernandez spanked a ground ball into right field. Burkett was unphased as he struck out Jose Guillen to end the inning and retired Oakland once again in order in the sixth
Boston added single runs in the fifth and sixth - both coming with 2 outs. David Ortiz picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a single to center to score Todd Walker in the fifth, and Johnny Damon also singled to center which counted Jason Varitek. Varitek clubbed his third double of the playoffs in the previous at-bat. Boston's run in the sixth came off Rich Harden as he began the inning in relief of Zito. Even though Zito left the game trailing 5-0, only 2 of those runs were earned.
Burkett's fabulous outing came to an abrupt end in the seventh with Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejeda sounding the rally cry. Chavez lined a one-out single, and Tejeda coaxed a free pass from Burkett to end his night. Chavez's single was just the second hit allowed by Burkett and the walk to Tejeda was the only free pass he granted. Alan Embree was brought on to face Erubiel Durazo, but the move didn't pan out. Durazo smacked a ball high off the left field wall, and it bounced over the head of Manny Ramirez to give the Oakland DH a triple. Ramon Hernandez followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Durazo, and Oakland was back in the game cutting Boston's lead in half at 6-3.
Todd Walker's leadoff solo blast in the Red Sox seventh made the score 7-3 and offered some solace to an uneasy Fenway crowd. But the anxiety of the faithful was heightened once again in the ninth.
Alan Embree regained Grady Little's confidence by setting down the A's in order in the eighth, and he was left to begin the ninth with two left-handed batters due up in Scott Hatteberg and Eric Chavez. He got Hatteberg to line out, but Chavez continued his torrid ALDS ripping a double to right. Chavez leads all batters in this series with a smoldering .462 clip. Miguel Tejeda greeted new Boston reliever Byung-Hyun Kim by lacing a ground rule double to plate Chavez and give him 6 RBI in the series. Kim got Durazo to ground softly back to the mound for the second out, but Oakland would not go quietly. Ramon Hernandez picked up his second RBI of the game slapping a single to right to score Tejeda. Jose Guillen and Terrance Long stroked back to back singles to load the bases for Eric Byrnes. Kim was able to put out the fire by striking Byrnes out to end the game. For Byrnes, his frustrations in this series continued as he is still looking for his first hit. In the 2003 ALDS, Byrnes was the top A's hitter in the 5 game series batting .462.
Oakland will pin their hopes in prolonging the series to Ted Lilly as he will be opposed by Boston ace Pedro Martinez in Game 4.
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