Red Sox End Rays Season With Another Walk-off

For the second consecutive game it was a walk-off at Fenway for the Boston Red Sox, sending the favored Tampa Bay Rays back to Florida with another bout of postseason sorrow.

Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez redeemed his ALDS Game 1 early exit loss with five innings of two runs on three hits, striking out six without a walk.

He won a 17-pitch battle over Austin Meadows in the top of the third getting a swinging strike on an 82 mph slider, exiting the game with a commanding 5-0 lead.

But both team’s calls to the bullpen backfired, beginning with Rays manager Kevin Cash replacing Collin McHugh with Shane McClanahan, the expected starter for Game 5.

Boston hammered the ball all over Fenway against the 24-year old starter, playing reliever, who’s used to coming out of the dugout instead of the pen.

The same guy, who fired five scoreless innings against them in Game 1, was mauled for five runs, sparked by Rafael Devers three-run blast. Christian Vazquez, basking in the glow of his 13th inning solo walk-off homer in Game 3, began the barrage by ripping a single up the middle, followed by Schwarber’s one-out four-pitch walk.

Devers, who’s been silenced by a right forearm injury, rocked a 98 mph offering over the plate 404 feet. After Devers’ blast, Boston’s relentless line-up had McClanahan on the ropes, like a wounded prizefighter.

Xander Bogaerts laced a single to left. Alex Verdugo launched an RBI double off the Monster, and J.D. Martinez roped an RBI base hit off the Green One, as well.

But the fat lady was far from singing as the resilient Rays bounced back. In the fifth, Jordan Luplow, hitting a buck sixty and change, led off with a double to left, scoring on Meadow’s groundout to first.

Kevin Kiermaier followed suit in the sixth, dumping a leadoff two bagger giving Rodriguez the hook for Tanner Houck, who kept Boston in it to win it in Game 2.

This time the tall drink of Mid-western water allowed Tampa Bay to chip away by surrendering a two-run homer to rookie Wander Franco, cutting Boston’s lead 5-3.

In the eighth, Red Sox manager Alex Cora dipped into the bullpen for Ryan Brasier, and the lights out right-hander unraveled. Mike Zunino doubled to right, Kiermaier brought him home on a double right of center, and Randy Arozarena roped a game-tying base hit, booting Brasier to make way for Garrett Whitlock.

The Georgia native retired six straight, and just when you thought it was going to be extra innings all over again, in the bottom of the ninth, Vazquez snuck a single through the hole past a diving Yandy Diaz, making his way to second on a sac bunt by Christian Arroyo. Travis Shaw was safe on a PH infield single putting Vazquez on third, and the man of the postseason hour, Kiké Hernández, hit the most important sac fly of his life, sending the Sox to the AL Championship Series.

I’m glad I’m not a betting girl because I had Tampa Bay going all the way.