Red Sox rebound in tense game to beat Rays and advance to ALCS.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Shane Victorino’s infield single broke a seventh-inning tie and journeyman Craig Breslow gave Boston a huge boost out of the bullpen, sending the Red Sox into the American League Championship Series with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
Koji Uehara got the final four outs — one night after giving up a game-winning home run — and the Red Sox rebounded to take the best-of-five playoff, 3-1.
Back in the ALCS for the first time in five years, they’ll open at home Saturday against the Athletics or Tigers. Oakland hosts Detroit in a Game 5 on Thursday.
“It’s great, but we’ve still got one more to get where we want to be,” Victorino said. “We’re going to get a few days off to rest and see what happens in the other division series, and we’ll go from there.”
Breslow relieved Boston starter Jake Peavy in the sixth and struck out his first four batters — all of them in the middle of Tampa Bay’s lineup. The 33-year-old lefty from Yale has pitched for six teams in eight big league seasons, including two stints with the Red Sox.
Boston scratched out three runs on six singles in a game that featured only one extra-base hit. But that was enough to finally eliminate the resilient Rays, who won four win-or-go-home games over the previous nine days.
Xander Bogaerts scored the tying run on Joel Peralta’s wild pitch in the seventh and Victorino followed with a run-scoring infield single. Dustin Pedroia drove in Bogaerts with a sacrifice f ly in the ninth to make it 3-1, and Uehara struck out Evan Longoria to end it.
David DeJesus broke a scoreless tie with a single in the sixth for the wild-card Rays, and Boston broke through in the seventh.
Bogaerts drew a pinch-hit walk with one out and raced to third on Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out single off Jake McGee.
The Rays brought on their sixth pitcher, Peralta, and the game shifted suddenly on his first pitch, which skipped in the dirt past catcher Jose Lobaton — allowing the tying run to score.
Ellsbury was stealing second on the pitch and continued to third when the ball rolled toward the backstop. Victorino beat out a slow chopper to shortstop, putting the Red Sox ahead 2-1.
Breslow pitched 12⁄ scoreless 3 innings for the win. Uehara earned a save.