ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs off Josh Beckett, helping the Tampa Bay Rays rally to take an 8-7 lead over the Boston Red Sox after six innings of Game 2 in the AL championship series.
Dustin Pedroia homered twice for Boston. He connected in the third inning and again in the fifth, when the Red sox tied an LCS single-inning record with three homers.
In all, there were seven home runs, setting an ALCS record.
Held hitless for six innings in a 2-0 loss in Game 1, the Rays came out swinging – and connecting – against a postseason ace who has struggled this October.
Longoria hit a two-run homer in the first inning. Upton launched a solo shot in the third and Cliff Floyd homered in the fourth.
Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered off Rays starter Scott Kazmir in the fifth, and Jason Bay’s solo shot off reliever Grant Balfour later in the inning gave Boston a short-lived 6-5 lead.
half off Beckett, who allowed eight runs and nine hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Carlos Pena’s RBI single and Longoria’s run-scoring double finished the Boston starter. Carl Crawford’s single on reliever Javier Lopez’s first pitch drove in Longoria to make it 8-6.
Upton continued his recent power surge. After hitting nine homers in 531 at-bats during the regular season, he’s connected four times in 24 at-bats during the playoffs.
Bay had a two-run double in the Boston first. He had a RBI single off Chad Bradford that trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-7 in the sixth.
Longoria, the All-Star rookie third baseman who homered twice in his playoff debut against the Chicago White Sox, snapped an 0-for-13 drought with third homer of the postseason.
Beckett began the night 3-0 with a 2.70 in league championship series play, with one of the wins coming for Florida in the 2003 NLCS. He was 6-2 overall in postseason and had won five consecutive decisions since the Marlins lost to the Yankees in Game 3 of the 2003 World Series.
On the other hand, he also was coming off the shortest playoff start of his career – five innings – against the Los Angeles Angels in Game 3 of this year’s ALDS. He allowed four runs on a postseason career-high nine hits and walked four, departing with the score tied at 4.
base.
After winning the opener, Boston slugger David Ortiz said the Rays had different looks on their face than during the regular season, suggesting they may have been feeling the pressure of being in the ALCS for the first time.
“I agree with him,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said before Game 2.
“For the first time yesterday, I thought we were impacted a little bit by the event. I’d like to think we’ll get beyond that today,” Maddon said, noting that it was most evident in the way his young team chased pitches from Daisuke Matsuzaka in the opener.
“First game of the LCS, the place was kind of buzzing. and in spite of all the preaching, the attempts to stay within the same parameters, I thought yesterday we just got away from ourselves a little bit. … We didn’t play the same game.”
The manager was fine with the team’s defense and felt right-hander James Shields and the bullpen were “magnificent” in limiting the Red Sox to two runs.
“But overall, offensively, I didn’t think we were our normal selves at the plate,” Maddon said. “I would like to think we learned a lesson and can move on.”
The series shifts to Fenway Park for Game 3 Monday, with left-hander Jon Lester pitching for Boston and right-hander Matt Garza taking the ball for Tampa Bay.
Basketball Hall of Famer Dick Vitale, a Rays season ticket holder since the club’s inaugural season in 1998, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
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