Recap - ALDS Game 4: Sox eliminate Rays

Jim Monaghan
Contributing writer


Photo courtesy of Boston.com
The Red Sox scored a pair of runs in the seventh inning and added another in the ninth to erase a 1-0 deficit and beat the Tampa Bays Rays 3-1 at Tropicana Field. The win puts the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series where they will take on either Oakland or Detroit.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning when Tampa scratched out a run on an RBI single by David Dejesus off Boston starting pitcher Jake Peavy.

The Red Sox answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. With two out, Xander Bogaerts walked and moved to third on a single by Jacoby Ellsbury. A wild pitch by Tampa reliever Joel Peralta allowed Bogaerts to score and Ellsbury to advance to third. Shane Victorino then beat out an infield hit to score Ellsbury with the go-ahead run.

The Red Sox added an insurance run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia.

Jake Peavy went 5.2 innings for Boston before being relieved by Craig Breslow who allowed just one hit in 1.2 innings. Junichi Tazawa got the final out of the eighth inning and Koji Uehara got the final four outs for the save.

Rays manager Joe Maddon set a postseason record in the game using nine pitchers in nine innings. He completely exhausted the bullpen and had the last remaining pitcher David Price warming up in the ninth inning in the event that Tampa tied the game. You can appreciate the fact that the Rays were in a win-or-go-home scenario, but the revolving door of relievers bordered on the bizarre, even for someone as quirky as Maddon.

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