Red Sox, buoyed by odd ruling, win in 13 innings
Vazquez’s blast pushes Rays to brink of ouster
BOSTON — Saved by a bizarre bounce and an obscure rule, the Boston Red Sox staggered Tampa Bay 6-4 Sunday on a walk-off two-run homer by Christian Vazquez in the 13th inning to move one victory from eliminating the 100-win Rays from an American League Division Series.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
The wild-card Red Sox took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five matchup, with Game 4 on Monday at Fenway Park. Game 5 would be in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Wednesday, if necessary.
Tampa Bay rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie it in the eighth inning, and it was still 4-all when Yandy Diaz singled with one out in the 13th. Then came the play that had the umpires scurrying for the rulebook and the Rays scratching their heads.
Kevin Kiermaier lined a twoout shot to right-center that bounced off the short wall in front of the Red Sox bullpen, ricocheted off right fielder Hunter Renfroe’s hip and flew back into the bullpen as Renfroe leaped to try to keep it in play.
After the umpires conferred and went to the headsets, they correctly awarded Kiermaier a ground-rule double and sent Diaz, who had come home, back to third.
Diaz was halfway from second to third and easily would have scored if the ball remained in play. But baseball Rule 5.05(a) (8) states: “Any bounding fair ball is deflected by the fielder into the stands, or over or under a fence on fair or foul territory, in which case the batter and all runners shall be entitled to advance two bases.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash said he watched the replay, and it was obvious Renfroe didn’t knock it over the wall on purpose.
“That’s just the rule; that’s the way it goes. It was very unfortunate for us,” he said. “It was fairly obvious that (Kiermaier) or Yandy was going to come around to score, but it didn’t go our way.”
■ White Sox 12, Astros 6:
At Chicago, Leury Garcia hit a three-run homer and an RBI double, and Yasmani Grandal had a two-run blast and totaled three RBIS as Chicago avoided a series sweep.
Tim Anderson had three hits, and Ryan Tepera and three other relievers shut out Houston on no hits over the final five innings as the White Sox overcame a 5-1 deficit in the franchise’s first home playoff game in 13 years.
Kyle Tucker hit a two-run double in the second inning off Chicago starter Dylan Cease and a two-run homer in the third off Michael Kopech.
After Grandal’s two-run shot just over the wall in left made it 5-3, Yoan Moncada and Gavin Sheets reached on two-out singles. Leury Garcia then looked at two balls from Luis Garcia before Astros manager Dusty Baker replaced his starting pitcher with Yimi Garcia.
Once all the Garcias had been sorted out, the move backfired for the Astros. Leury Garcia, listed at 5 feet 8 inches and 190 pounds, drove a 3-and-1 pitch from Yimi Garcia deep to center for a 436-foot homer.