Oct. 12--ST. PETERSBURG
At several moments in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Rays were tumbling down a slippery slope, their 2008 Cinderella season endangered by a potential two-game deficit against their bitter rivals.
But the Rays responded in a fashion emblematic of their surprising year. They came back even though the Boston Red Sox had taken leads at three separate points in the game.
In a wild, emotional contest that tied a record for total home runs in a postseason game, the Rays beat the Red Sox 9-8 in 11 innings before a sellout crowd of 34,904 at Tropicana Field.
Pinch-runner Fernando Perez scored on a sacrifice fly by B.J. Upton to right field off of Boston reliever Mike Timlin. Timlin had started the inning by walking Rays catcher Dioner Navarro.
Perez scored at 1:35 a.m. -- five hours, 27 minutes after it started.
With the win, the Rays evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece and, perhaps, saved their dreams of becoming just the second team in major-league history to reach the World Series the year after having baseball's worst record.
Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria had three hits, including a two-run homer in the first inning, and relievers Chad Bradford, Dan Wheeler and David Price combined for 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, with Price getting the victory.
Now, the Rays and Red Sox go to Boston for three contests at Fenway Park, where the Rays lost seven of nine regular-season games this year. Game 3 is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
The two teams will be hard-pressed to repeat Saturday's fireworks. They combined for seven homers, two of them by Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
But the fifth inning typified the pulse-pounding, seesaw nature of the game.
It began with Boston trailing 5-3, but the Red Sox took the lead on solo home runs to left field by Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay.
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