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David Ortiz celebrates his first of two solo blasts.
RED SOX 7, RAYS 4
BOSTON — The Red Sox spent September distancing themselves from the Rays in the American League East. One more win and they'll rid themselves of Tampa Bay for good.
Boston pounded David Price early and often during Game 2 of the American League division series, then hung on for a 7-4 win that left the Rays on the brink of elimination in the best-of-five series.
"It's not over; we've got to keep on fighting," said David Ortiz, who belted a pair of home runs against Price. "We know we're playing against a good ballclub. They always find a way to win games. You can't take anything for granted."
Joe Maddon certainly isn't taking anything for granted, but after surviving elimination games in Toronto, Texas and Cleveland during the past week, the Rays manager confidently predicted the series would return to Boston next week for a decisive fifth game.
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John Lackey allows seven hits, four runs and three walks over 5 1/3 innings.
"I'm really looking forward to Game 5 here," Maddon said. "We just went through a week of backs against the wall, so it's not new to us. There's no question it's going to be difficult … but I don't think it's impossible by any means.
"Boston this time of the year is kind of lovely, and I'm looking forward to coming back in a few days."
Price helped pitch the Rays into the postseason with his complete-game effort against the Rangers in Game 163 earlier this week, but the lefthander allowed seven runs in seven-plus innings on Saturday.
Ortiz, who had never gone deep against Price in 42 plate appearances, had the first multi-homer game of his postseason career.
"I like it a lot better on this side, for sure," said Red Sox starter John Lackey, who had been abused by Ortiz during his days pitching for the Angels. "He's tough this time of year. He's a guy that likes bright lights, for sure."
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Dustin Pedroia drives an RBI double against David Price into left field.
Jacoby Ellsbury set the table with three hits and three runs scored, while Dustin Pedroia drove in three runs, one of which was made possible by a hard — and clean — take-out slide at second base by Shane Victorino in the third.
Manager John Farrell used the word "relentless" to describe his team before the game, then watched his lineup score in four of the first five innings against Price to take control of the game.
"There's been many nights of this," Farrell said. "I think the beauty of our team is that they look at each night as an individual challenge; how are we going to attack a given pitcher. We knew we had our hands full against David coming in here tonight."
Farrell mentioned the way his team took advantage of running the bases as they peppered the Green Monster with hits, using the dimensions of their home ballpark to the fullest.
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David DeJesus slides homeduring their two-run fifth inning.
Maddon agreed.
"I think we got out Fenway'd tonight," Maddon said. "They took advantage of the quirks; we did not."
Down 5-1 after four innings, the Rays cut the lead to two runs on James Loney's two-run double in the fifth. Pedroia pushed the lead back to three runs with an RBI double in the fifth as Price continued to get hit hard, giving up eight hits and two walks over the first five innings.
The Rays threatened to tie the game in the seventh, putting the tying runs on base with one out against Craig Breslow. But the lefty got Ben Zobrist to ground into an inning-ending double play to escape the jam.
An inning later, Yunel Escobar came up as the tying run with one out, but Junichi Tazawa induced another huge double play, protecting the lead. After Ortiz stretched the lead to three with his second homer of the night, Koji Uehara made quick work of the Rays in the ninth, striking out two and inducing Wil Myers to ground out to first on 11 pitches (all strikes) for the save.
Maddon might already be talking about Game 5, but the Red Sox were focused squarely on Monday.
"They've already played a couple of elimination games and they've won," Pedroia said. "It's going to be tough to put them away. They've been through that before this year; we know that. So we're looking forward to playing Game 3."
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