BOSTON (AP) -The slugging Tampa Bay Rays, just one win from the World Series, got three more homers from B.J. Upton, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria and led the Boston Red Sox 5-0 after three innings in Game 5 of the AL championship series Thursday night.
Tampa Bay’s 13 homers set an ALCS record, breaking Boston’s record of 12 against the New York Yankees in 2003.
Daisuke Matsuzaka surrendered the three early drives in Game 5 after tossing seven terrific innings in Boston’s 2-0 victory in Game 1, its only victory of the series.
Pena and Longoria also homered in the first inning of Tuesday night’s 13-4 win, followed by a day off, and the Rays’ power picked right up as they moved closer to extending their amazing year. In their other 10 seasons, they finished last in the AL East nine times, next to last once and never won more than 70 games.
The winner of the ALCS opens the World Series at home next Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies, who eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 5-1 win in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Kazmir allowed two hits hit in three innings after being moved up in the rotation. Rays manager Joe Maddon pushed top starter James Shields, better at home, back to a potential Game 6 on Saturday night in St. Petersburg. Kazmir has performed better on the road than at home.
Kazmir got a 2-0 lead to work with before Matsuzaka recorded an out. Akinori Iwamura led off with a single and Upton hit a shot that landed just above the home-run line on the 37-foot high left-field wall.
With one out in the third, Upton singled to center and Pena homered just inside the right-field pole for a 4-0 lead, tying the ALCS record by connecting in his third straight game. Five pitches later, Longoria broke the mark and tied the overall LCS record with his homer to left.
The Rays hit eight homers in the first three innings of Games 3, 4 and 5, all at Fenway Park.
Upton and Longoria have six homers apiece in the postseason, two less than the major league mark for a single postseason held by Barry Bonds and Carlos Beltran. Troy Glaus hit seven with the Angels in 2002 and eight other players have six. But Upton and Longoria are the first teammates to do it.
The Red Sox were trying to become only the 12th team of the 68 who have fallen behind 3-1 in an LCS or World Series to win a series. Only four of the previous 15 teams to trail an ALCS 3-1 have come back to win; the Red Sox did it three times in 1986, 2004 and 2007, winning the World Series the last two times.
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