BOSTON (AP) -Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Willie Aybar homered and Tampa Bay led the punchless Boston Red Sox 11-1 after six innings of Game 4 of the AL championship series Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay scored five runs in the sixth. B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Aybar had RBI singles, and Longoria and Dioner Navarro also drove in a run in the inning.
The slugging Rays hit four homers in Monday’s 9-1 win that put them ahead 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. All seven homers cleared the 37-foot high wall.
Kevin Cash went deep for Boston, leading off the third with a drive off Andy Sonnanstine. Cash is the first Red Sox player to homer in his first postseason at-bat since pitcher Jose Santiago in the opener of the 1967 World Series against St. Louis.
t three games of that series then won the next four before sweeping St. Louis in the World Series.
The Rays made it 6-1 in the fifth when Crawford doubled and scored on Aybar’s single. But Aybar was tagged out after rounding first when third baseman Kevin Youkilis cut off left fielder Jason Bay’s throw and fired to Mark Kotsay.
Tampa Bay padded the lead in the sixth when Jason Bartlett led off with a triple before the Rays got three singles and three walks while sending 10 batters to the plate.
The Red Sox had just two hits off Sonnanstine through six innings – Kotsay’s single in the second and Cash’s homer. The right-hander retired the next 12 batters after that shot.
Longoria homered for the second straight game and for the fifth time in the postseason, breaking the rookie record for a single postseason set by Miguel Cabrera with Florida in 2003.
Wakefield, who led the Red Sox with 25 homers allowed during the regular season, made his first appearance in 16 days. He was replaced by Justin Masterson after allowing Aybar’s homer and Navarro’s single with two outs in the third.
Sonnanstine, 17 years younger than the 42-year-old Wakefield, retired the first four batters then worked out of a jam.
g into a double play.
Crisp played for the first time in the series when center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was benched after going 0-for-14 in the first three games. Right fielder J.D. Drew replaced Ellsbury in the leadoff spot and was 0-for-3 through six innings.
After a day off, the series resumes Thursday night at Fenway Park with Daisuke Matsuzaka facing Tampa Bay’s James Shields in a rematch of the starting pitchers in Boston’s 2-0 win in Game 1.
In Game 3, B.J. Upton and Rocco Baldelli hit three-run homers and Pena and Longoria added solo shots. The three homers in Game 4 gave the Rays 10 for the ALCS and 16 in their seven postseason games.
Wakefield’s regular-season problems against the Rays continued. He was 0-2 after going 19-3 against them before this year.
Sonnanstine dominated the Red Sox both times he faced them this season, pitching seven scoreless innings on Sept. 10 and six shutout innings on Sept. 16.
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