The power-packed Tampa Bay Rays hit four home runs over the Green Monster at Fenway Park to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-1 in the Major League Baseball playoffs on Monday.
B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena sent shots over the famous left-field wall for a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
The Rays put the defending World Series champions in a postseason hole for the first time since Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland last year to win the AL pennant.
PHOTO: EPA
The Rays also hit hard on the basepaths. Carl Crawford bowled over Boston catcher Jason Varitek on a play at the plate — there was no immediate reprisal in a matchup between teams that have tangled in the past.
Matt Garza, the only Tampa Bay pitcher to lose in the first-round series against the Chicago White Sox, held the Red Sox scoreless through six innings before they made it 5-1 in the seventh inning.
Upton hit a three-run homer in the third inning, his fifth homer of the playoffs. One out later, Longoria hit his fourth home run of the postseason, tying a rookie record set by Miguel Cabrera in 2003.
Suddenly shaky Boston pitcher Jon Lester, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in four previous postseason outings — including last year’s World Series clincher against Colorado — gave up four earned runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Baldelli had a three-run drive in the eighth and Pena hit a solo homer in the ninth.
Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was to face Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series yesterday.
PHILLIES 7, DODGERS 5
At Los Angeles, Shane Victorino and much-traveled pinch-hitter Matt Stairs hit two-run homers off two of Los Angeles’ most reliable relievers in the eighth inning, lifting Philadelphia over the Dodgers and into a 3-1 lead in the National League championship series.
It was the first time the visiting team has won a game in 12 meetings between the teams this year.
Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who won the series opener, can pitch Philadelphia into its first World Series in 15 years today in Game 5. He’ll be opposed by Game 2 loser Chad Billingsley.
Eleven teams in baseball history have come back from 3-1 deficits to win a best-of-seven postseason series — two in the National League Championship Series.
With a runner at first and one out in the eighth, Victorino lined Cory Wade’s first pitch into the right-field bullpen to tie the game at 5. Then, after a two-out single by Carlos Ruiz, Dodgers manager Joe Torre called upon closer Jonathan Broxton, the seventh Los Angeles pitcher.
Broxton tried to throw a 3-1 fastball past Stairs, and the 40-year-old left-handed hitter drove it halfway up the the right-field pavilion to put the Phillies ahead.
Broxton, the seventh Los Angeles pitcher, allowed only two homers in 69 innings during the regular season.
The Phillies picked up Stairs from Toronto on Aug. 30. He has played for 11 teams in his career.
The Phillies hit an NL-leading 214 homers during the regular season, and have nine in eight postseason games, good for 17 of their 35 runs.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB