Rays rip Red Sox, 13-4 / LJWorld.com

Archive for Wednesday, October 15, 2008

By Jimmy Golen - Associated Press Sports Writer

October 15, 2008

Winslow Townson/AP Photo

Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, right, is congratulated by teammate Willy Aybar after hitting a solo home run off Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield in the first inning. Tampa Bay crushed Boston, 13-4, on Tuesday at Boston to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.

Boston — They fluttered in and rocketed out: Three more homers sent sailing over the Green Monster to help the Tampa Bay Rays blow out Boston for the second straight game and move within one win of their first AL pennant.

Evan Longoria hit his rookie-record fifth home run of the playoffs, and Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar also homered off aging knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on Tuesday night to give the Rays a 13-4 victory over the Red Sox that put the defending World Series champions on the brink of elimination.

Carl Crawford tied an AL championship series record with five hits and Andy Sonnanstine pitched 71â3 sharp innings as Tampa Bay took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven playoff. Aybar had four hits and five RBIs.

"You could talk about everybody up and down the lineup, but Carl and Willy really set the tone for us," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Right now it's kind of contagious. ... I don't want to see us do anything different."

After an off day, James Shields and Game 1 winner Daisuke Matsuzaka are scheduled to pitch Thursday night at Fenway Park in a potential clincher for the surprising Rays.

"It would be nice to finish it here," said Crawford, who rushed back from hand surgery to be ready for the playoffs after missing most of the last two months of the regular season. "We know we're real close now to going to the World Series. A lot of guys won't say it, (but) there's a nice vibe right now."

Tampa Bay had never even approached a .500 record during its first decade in the majors before edging wild-card Boston for the AL East title by two games. But the Rays were poised and powerful against a Red Sox team that has made the playoffs in five of the last six years, advancing to the ALCS four times and winning it all twice.

Facing the 42-year-old Wakefield, the oldest pitcher to start an ALCS game, the league's newest team homered three times in the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead. The Rays scored another in the fifth and blew it open with five more in the sixth when seven straight batters reached base to make it 11-1.