BOSTON (AP) – Enrique Hernandez got the Boston Red Sox’s second consecutive win with a walk-off, driving the pinch-runner Danny santana after hitting a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, and sending Boston to the American League Championship Series with a 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
After winning Game 3 of the division series on Sunday with a two-run homer from Christian vazquez To end the game in the 13th inning, Boston took control of Game 4 to win consecutive games with a postseason walk-off for the first time since games 4 and 5 of the 2004 Championship Series. Both were courtesy of the Dominican. David Ortiz against the New York Yankees.
Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run off the rookie Shane McClanahan to unleash a five-run third inning that put Boston up 5-0. Tampa Bay fought to recover and tied for the eighth.
The Red Sox, who reached the playoffs as a wild card, await the winner of the divisional duel between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox. Houston leads the series 2-1 leading up to Game 4 in Chicago on Tuesday after it was postponed on Monday due to the rain forecast.
“From day one, you guys believed in this group,” manager Álex Cora told his players before kicking off the celebration with champagne.
He said it was their conviction that led them to this point.
“We always said we had a good baseball team that had some gaps, and we still have some gaps, but in the end, no matter how bad it seemed at times, we are still here. We’re still at the dance,” Cora said.
Boston improved to 15-3 in series winners and has won each of its last eight. The Rays’ season ended abruptly. Tampa Bay was looking for back-to-back trips to the World Series after winning 100 games during the regular season and easily taking the AL East title.
“There’s no question that there is disappointment,” said Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash. “We had great aspirations to keep moving forward on this. We ran into a Red Sox team that just beat us, there’s no other way. They hit the big hits.”
For the Rays, the Cubans Randy Arozarena 4-2 with a towed; Yandy Diaz of 4-0. Dominicans Wander franco 4-1 with a run scored and two RBIs, Nelson Cruz of 4-0.
For the Red Sox, Puerto Ricans Hernández 4-1 with an RBI, Vázquez 4-2 with a run scored. The Dominicans Devers 4-3 with one scored and three RBIs, Santana 0-0 with one scored.