Indians dominate Bosox for ALDS win
The American League path to the World Series will be decided in a pair of cities on the Great Lakes.
A night after the Toronto Blue Jays swept the Texas Rangers in dramatic fashion at Rogers Centre, the Cleveland Indians were clinical in their dismissal of the Boston Red Sox in the other American League Division Series.
Helped by a two-run Coco Crisp blast over Fenway Park’s famed Green Monster in left field, the Indians built up an early 4-1 lead Monday and hung on for a 4-3 win.
The victory followed a pair of wins back in Cleveland. The AL East champions went down somewhat meekly against the Indians, who had dominated the AL’s Central Division in the regular season.
As the higher seed, the Indians will have home-field advantage in the best-of-seven ALCS, beginning Friday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Though the Jays have won four consecutive road games — two to end the season here in Boston and a pair in Arlington, Texas, to start their ALDS — the Indians are tough at their home park, where they built a 53-28 record during the regular season.
The Jays and Indians met seven times with the Indians holding a narrow 4-3 edge in wins. The Jays outscored the Indians 38-24, but that margin was skewed by a 17-1 Toronto win on Aug. 3. The other notable regular-season meeting between the two was a 19-inning marathon on July 1 — a 2-1 Cleveland victory.
On Columbus Day in Boston, the Red Sox just couldn’t generate enough offence against Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin, while the Indians kept pecking away at Red Sox counterpart Clay Buchholz.
Despite the enthusiastic urgings of another sellout crowd at Fenway, David Ortiz ended his career with more of a whimper.
The Red Sox slugger had a chance for a big moment in the sixth inning when he went to the plate with one out and two runners in scoring position. A fly ball to right-centre field was deep enough to score one run, but Ortiz smacked his hands in frustration for not getting all of the pitch.
Ortiz came to the plate again in the Red Sox half of the eighth and drew a walk — his second of the game — as Boston added another run to pull within one of the Indians. But then Xander Bogaerts lined out to end the inning.
Officially, if that was it and Ortiz does indeed retire, he left the game going 0-for-1 with two walks and a sacrifice fly. As is his way, Big Papi didn’t go out quietly, trying to fire up the crowd both when he reached first for the final walk and again while at second base as he exited for pinch-runner Marco Hernandez.
Ortiz didn’t appear to appreciate the final walk, but given the magnitude of the situation, didn’t bite on any bad pitches. The sac fly earlier gave him his 61st post-season RBIs, tying Derek Jeter for fourth-most all-time.
Moments after the final out, the Fenway faithful chanted “thank you Papi,” a cheer that fizzled out as the disappointed Red Sox retreated to their clubhouse.
The Sox battled to the end with a two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth that ended with runners stranded on first and second, two of the 14 runners they left on the basepaths during the game.