The A's won the first two games of a series dominated by tight games and emotional finishes, but Boston rallied for two dramatic victories at Fenway Park last weekend.
Boston became the fourth team to rally from an 0-2 deficit in a division series since the round was added to postseason play in 1995. The Red Sox also did it in 1999 against Cleveland.
Martinez, pitching on full rest, fell behind early but stayed strong in his duel with Zito, who was pitching on three days' rest for the first time in his career.
It was the first time in postseason history that two Cy Young Award winners faced each other in a decisive Game 5 or Game 7, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Zito took a one-run lead into the sixth after Guillen's RBI double in the fourth.
But Varitek led off the sixth with his second homer of the postseason. After Damon walked and Todd Walker was hit by a pitch with one out, Ramirez pounded a homer into left field.
Boston's imposing cleanup hitter had just three singles in 18 at-bats before the homer. Ramirez made the most of his first postseason homer since 1998, standing at the plate to admire his blast before walking slowly up the baseline while pointing at his celebrating dugout.
``I was looking in, and he gave me the pitch, and I went deep,'' said Ramirez, who struck out in his other three at-bats.
A crowd of 49,397 was well aware of the historic implications of the decisive game.
The A's got almost no contributions from Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez. Oakland's top two run-producers during the regular season combined to go 3-for-45 in the series, and both made outs with a runner on base in the eighth.
RSS