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A.J. PIERZYNSKI |
The Red Sox brawl to a 10 inning walk-off
May 30, 2014 ... For the Red Sox, a highly-emotional Friday night at Fenway Park ended with a celebration on the third-base side of home plate. That's where they intercepted
A.J. Pierzynski following a walk-off triple that very well could have been an inside-the-park homer if the game had been allowed to extend.
Pierzynski's well-placed drive into the gap in right-center -- in which right fielder Wil Myers and center fielder Desmond Jennings
literally ran into each other -- completed a 3-2, 10-inning win for the suddenly rolling Red Sox. That's five wins in a row for the Red Sox, coming directly after a 10-game losing streak.
This one had all kinds of drama, which started when Rays ace David Price drilled Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in the back on a first-pitch
fastball in the bottom of the first. Last year, in Game 2 of the Division Series, Price served up two homers to Ortiz and expressed frustration after the game that the slugger took so long to round the bases. Ortiz thought the incident was over when Price apologized to him the
next day. That's why Ortiz was so upset when he was plunked Friday by the first pitch Price threw to him since last October's meeting. A warning was immediately issued by home-plate umpire Dan Bellino, and Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected. Farrell was furious that Price didn't
get ejected.
The walk-off win was the second in as many nights for the Sox. Jonny Gomes started the winning rally when he was hit by a pitch from Juan Carlos
Oviedo with one out. Pierzynski stepped up next and did the rest.
This win was particularly sweet for the Red Sox in that they came back from an early 2-0 deficit against Price, with whom they weren't happy. Price hit Mike Carp with a high pitch in the right forearm in the
fourth and the Red Sox were incredulous again that he wasn't ejected. Torey Lovullo, Boston's first of three acting managers on the night, was so upset that he got ejected.
Though they were filled with emotion, the Red Sox stayed on task. Needing a big hit, the red-hot Xander Bogaerts delivered a towering RBI double off the Green Monster against Price to tie the game in the bottom of
the seventh. Bogaerts pumped his fist when he got to second.
Brandon Workman gave the Red Sox 5 1/3 solid innings, giving up four hits and two runs. He walked three and struck out four. Workman's night ended when he threw a pitch behind
Evan Longoria in the top of the sixth. Both sides had been issued warnings after the Ortiz plunking in the first. At that point, third-base coach Brian Butterfield, next up as acting manager, was automatically
ejected.
Perhaps there was still lingering bad blood between the clubs after the events of Sunday, when the two teams got into a scuffle after Yunel Escobar took third on defensive indifference in the seventh inning when the
Rays had an 8-3 lead. The Rays extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth on an RBI single by DeJesus against Workman.
Ortiz got at least a small measure of revenge against Price in the bottom of the fifth when he lined an RBI single to left. Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia set the table with singles. It wound up being Pierzynski
who sent everybody home, as Myers, who had an infamous fielding gaffe in Game 1 of last year's Division Series, again came up on the wrong side of a play at Fenway. |
