American League Division Series Recap: Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays

(Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

For this week's blog, I am deciding to switch it up a little. It’s October, which means its postseason baseball time! The biggest matchup I focused on was MY Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had a wild regular season as many people predicted them to finish in the bottom half of their division with a record just under .500. However, here we are in October and the Red Sox are still in the hunt! After an absolute roller coaster of a regular season, the Red Sox clinched a spot to the American League Wild Card game. The wild card just happened to be against their biggest rival, the New York Yankees. This was one of the biggest wild game games of all time as the history between the two teams runs deep. The Red Sox were gaining momentum down the stretch and it carried into the one game playoff. The Red Sox attacked early in the game offensively against Gerritt Cole. Cole is arguably the best pitcher in the game (whenever he’s using the Spider Tack). This was a huge confidence booster for the Sox as they would go on to win the game 6-2 and move on to the American League Division Series (ALDS).

Who was next up to face for the Red Sox? the Tampa Bay Rays, who held the best record in American League for the regular season with a record of 100 wins and 62 losses. The Rays are another division rival of the Red Sox as they are also in the American League East Division. This was going to be quite the challenge for the Sox as they had been struggling in their last few series facing the Rays during the regular season. Unfortunately, as the series started, it looked as if that trend was going to continue. The Rays came in extremely relaxed as a few players were eating popcorn and hanging out as they were fully confident in themselves. Their confidence was on full display as they got to the Red Sox pitching early. On the other hand, the Red Sox looked like they were sleepwalking throughout the entire game. Could not generate offense and the pitching was a mess. Worst of all, they were caught up allowing Rays phenom, Randy Arozarena to steal home on a straight steal, something that has not been done in the postseason since Jackie Robinson stole home in the 1955 World Series. Overall ugly game, as the Rays took the victory, winning 5-0.

The next night the Red Sox got on the board early, starting the game with a 2-0 lead. The Sox ace, Chris Sale then took the mound as Boston was looking to even the series. His performance was a disaster. Not something you would expect to see from your best pitcher. Sale only lasted one inning giving up five runs, including a grand slam. It looked like the Sox were dead at that point, until manager Alex Cora decided to pace through the dugout screaming “IT’S A 3-0 BALLGAME. WE’VE GOT 8 MORE INNINGS OF THIS!!” as he was trying to provide a spark for his players, describing that the game was nowhere near over and that they could come back. And come back they did! The Red Sox would go on to score 14 runs on 20 hits, and five of those hits came from Kike Hernandez as he started to explode! Also, the job that Tanner Houck and the bullpen did after having to take over in a very hectic situation should not go unnoticed. Houck and company only managed to allow one run through the next 8 innings. The Red Sox would go on to win 14-6, with momentum shifting their way as the series headed back to Boston.

On to game three, another great one! As intense as the first seven innings were, we’ll have to skip ahead to the top of the eighth. The Sox were leading for most of the game until that point 4-2. However, as the Rays were known to be resilient in the late innings, they tied it right when everyone thought the Sox had that one in the bag. Momentum seemed to be shifting back to Tampa as they kept fighting on both sides. The Rays bullpen was not budging which kept them in the fight as the game eventually went to extras. It got to be so intense that Boston even had to use Monday’s scheduled starting pitcher, Nick Pivetta to give them some pitching depth as the game went further. Fast forward again to the top of the 13th (yes you read that right). The Rays looked as if they had something brewing as they had a runner on with Kevin Kiermaier at the plate. Kiermaier hit one to the outfield wall that was going to be trouble. When the Red Sox right fielder, Hunter Renfroe, went to field the ball, it actually ricocheted off his body and went over the fence for a ground-rule double. This became a crucial and controversial call as the runner ahead of Kiermaier likely would have scored on that play, but the official ruling states that he had to stop at third base.

With two outs Pivetta went on to face the next batter, striking him out and the game remained tied in the bottom of the inning. Hunter Renfroe then came up to bat and instantly drew a walk starting a rally. Christian Vazquez was next up, hoping to send the fans home happy. And on the first pitch he saw in that at-bat, he hammered a fastball over the green monster! THE MOON MAN STRUCK AGAIN!! Sox won 6-4 and took the series lead 2-1!

After a thrilling Sunday night, the Red Sox were determined to clinch the series at home, on Marathon Monday no less. Carrying some of the momentum from Sunday, the Sox took the lead in the third inning scoring five runs. On the other side, Eduardo Rodriguez pitched a great game as he kept the Sox in it, as he pitched the first five innings. However, after ERod left, the Rays attempted to make a comeback. They managed to score five runs which tied the game at 5-5 going into the bottom of the ninth. Once the Sox got their chance to spark something, they took advantage of that moment. The hero of the previous night, Christian Vazquez lead off with a single, which then set up a sacrifice bunt situation for Christian Arroyo. Arroyo executed the bunt perfectly, advancing Vazquez to second and scoring position. Next up, Travis Shaw hit a pinch-hit infield single to the opposite side, advancing Vazquez to third with only one out. As Vazquez was only 90 feet away from scoring the winning run, Cora decided to send in Danny Santana as a pinch-runner in Vazquez’s place to increase speed on the bases. This was a smart move because the hottest hitter on the team was up to bat next, in Kike Hernandez. After letting a strike go by, Kike saw a good pitch and hit a line drive to left field. It was caught by the Rays’ left fielder. It was a good ball for Santana to run on as he tagged up from third sprinting home. The throw was offline! THE RED SOX HAD ADVANCED TO THE AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES!! KIKE TORE IT UP ONCE AGAIN!!

Final: Red Sox 6, Rays 5.

We’ll see you on Friday, as the Red Sox are now set to face the Houston Astros in a best-of-seven series. Winner advances to the World Series.

Oh by the way.. have fun with all that champagne you purchased and shipped to Boston after winning Game 1, Tampa. I’m sure that’ll be put to good use!