BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
 2013 ALCS, GAME #6
Shane Victorino's grand slam clinches the A.L. pennant

October 19, 2013 ... Bedlam erupted on Lansdowne Street just after midnight, as closer Koji Uehara heeded the crowd's calls for "One more strike! One more strike!" and ended the sixth and final game of the American League Championship Series with a strikeout.

But it was just before 11:30 at Fenway Park when a guy from Hawaii stepped to the plate as we heard the recording of a man from Jamaica singing, "don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right."  More than 38,000 voices sang along with Bob Marley, then Shane Victorino effectively ended eight days and six games of unforgettable baseball.  Shane Victorino's grand slam in the seventh inning catapulted the Sox to a 5-2 victory against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night as they won the AL Championship Series in six games.   Victorino's home run off Jose Veras cleared the Wall in left field and sent a sellout crowd of 38,823 at Fenway Park into a frenzy. Victorino bounced around the bases and literally hopped off the plate into the arms of his teammates.

Craig Breslow and Koji Uehara secured the victory as the Sox claimed their 13th AL pennant, the first since 2007.  Boston's American League Championship Series clincher officially ended at 12:01AM when Koji Uehara fanned Jose Iglesias, triggering a wild celebration on the Fenway infield and pandemonium in the stands and streets outside the park. One year after enduring last-place humiliation and the worst season in 47 years, the Red Sox are AL Champions for the 13th time since 1901.  Uehara was named the Most Valuable Player. He saved three of the four victories and threw six scoreless innings in the series.

Victorino was 2 for 23 in the series with one run batted in as he came to the plate with the bases loaded, one out, and the Sox trailing, 2-1.  Righthander Jose Veras, Detroit's third pitcher of the inning, threw him three curveballs. The first was a called strike and Victorino fouled off the second one. The third was over the plate and Victorino didn't miss it.  It was his seventh career home run in the postseason, the second grand slam.  From there, it was a rising tide to a wild celebration at Fenway that started in earnest when Uehara struck out former teammate Jose Iglesias for the final out and threw his arms in the air.

Until the slam, it was a tight game.  The winning rally started when Jonny Gomes doubled off the Wall in left, just inches from a home run. Stephen Drew struck out after failing to bunt, leaving him 1 for 20 in the series. But rookie Xander Bogaerts, ever patient, walked.  With starter Max Scherzer at 110 pitches, Tigers manager Jim Leyland went to lefthander Drew Smyly.  Jacoby Ellsbury grounded a ball up the middle for what could have been a double play. But the usually sure-handed Iglesias bobbled the ball and that got Victorino to the plate with the bases loaded.

The Sox made Scherzer work in the early innings, putting runners on the first and third inning.  Bogaerts and Ellsbury drew walks to start the third inning. Victorino tried to bunt the runners over and popped up a 94-mile-per-hour fastball. Scherzer came off the mound and made a sliding catch.  Pedroia swung at the first pitch he saw and sent a rocket down the line in left. The ball was foul by inches, coming so close to the foul pole that it left a shadow. A video replay showed the call was correct. Pedroia grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Sox broke through in the fifth inning. Bogaerts worked the count full with two outs and drove a fastball off the wall in center field for a double. Ellsbury lined the first pitch he saw into right field for an RBI single.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz was working on a three-hit shutout to that point. But he walked Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera followed with a single to left field.  At that point John Farrell made the surprising decision to bring in lefthander Franklin Morales. Morales had pitched twice in the postseason in far less important situations. He was not up to the task. Morales walked Prince Fielder on four pitches to load the bases.  Victor Martinez got up in the count and hammered a fastball off the Wall in left for a two-run single. Martinez should have been on second base but retreated to first. That proved important. Rookie Brandon Workman got Jhonny Peralta to ground to second and Pedroia was able to tag Martinez and throw the ball to the plate.  Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia chased down Fielder, who cooperated by flopping face down in the first 2 feet from third base. Workman then struck out Alex Avila and the Sox were down 2-1, and fortunate that was all.

The Tigers put two runners on base with two outs against Workman in the seventh. With Cabrera up, Junichi Tazawa came in. Cabrera grounded to shortstop, Drew making a diving play to save a run. That left Cabrera 0 for 3 against Tazawa in the series, all with runners on base.

That left it up to Victorino. The grand slam was his second in the postseason. He joined Jim Thome as the only players to accomplish that.

Red Sox relievers pitched 21 innings in the ALCS and allowed one run on 16 hits with nine walks and 16 strikeouts. For the postseason, they have allowed three runs over 32 innings.

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