Red Sox 5 – Blue Jays 4 BOSTON – With runners on first and second and one out in the ninth inning of a 4-4 tie last night, an ecstatic, expectant Fenway Park crowd serenaded David Ortiz with shouts of “MVP!”
Ortiz – who had blasted a clutch solo home run just one inning earlier – felt the momentum was more powerful than a locomotive.
“You feel like Superman,” he admitted.
Ortiz’s single to left-center off Toronto reliever Miguel Batista drove in Johnny Damon from second, capping a 5-4 comeback victory and helping the Red Sox avert disaster heading into the biggest matchup end-of-the-regular-season match-up with the Yankees since 1949.
Boston trails the Yanks by one game in the AL East and can force a one-game playoff even if they win only two of three this weekend. The Red Sox remain tied for the wild-card lead with Cleveland.
“I think the best thing that ever happened to this team is winning that game tonight,” Ortiz said of the come-from-behind victory.
After trailing the tenacious Blue Jays by three runs heading into the bottom of the sixth, Boston rallied on Manny Ramirez’s two-run, sixth-inning homer into the Jays bullpen.
“I thought that from the first pitch to the last pitch, we played with amazing confidence,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “And we were behind, but we had the feel of . . . it’s hard to explain it . . . We felt like we were going to win. And that’s something that’s real special about this ballclub.”
A night after the Bunt Heard ‘Round the (Baseball) World, Ortiz returned to his strength. Leading off the eighth, he smashed a 2-and-0, 95 MPH fastball from Vinnie Chulk into the third row of Green Monster seats.
It was his 20th homer to tie a game or give Boston a lead this season, and it might’ve propelled him back in the MVP lead over Alex Rodriguez.
“I’ve been on teams for three years and I haven’t seen as many clutch hits as he’s had this year,” said Boston starter Matt Clement, who nearly torpedoed his team’s playoff hopes by allowing four runs over five-plus innings.
“If that’s not enough to win the MVP, I don’t know what is,” added Clement, who will move into the bullpen this weekend.
Ortiz tried bunting for a single on Wednesday night during a 7-2 loss, a failed move that stunned longtime baseball observers but was defended again yesterday by Francona.
Big Papi joked after the game that “hopefully I don’t have to bunt in a situation like I did.”
In the ninth last night, he had a feeling of déjà vu, remembering Game 5 of last year’s ALCS, when his 14th-inning, walk-off single off Esteban Loaiza sent that series to New York and sent the Yankees reeling.
Before last night’s game, the Red Sox traded for reliever Mike Stanton. The former Yankee castoff will be ineligible for the postseason.
Stanton was kicked to the curb by the Yanks on June 30 after going 1-2 with a 7.08 ERA in 14 innings over 28 relief appearances. He signed with the Nationals and went 2-1 with a 3.58 ERA in 27 2/3 innings. The Sox traded two minor-league pitchers who had no future in their organization.
“It’s not a panic or desperation move,” GM Theo Epstein said. “We didn’t want to turn our back on getting better, even for four days. . . . He might be the right guy in the right spot.”
Before tonight’s game, Song Airlines will unveil the “Big Papi” airplane. Undoubtedly the Red Sox will still be flying high.
“I’ll tell you what: whoever brings the best pitching in this series is going to be the winner,” Ortiz said. “There’s a lot of excitement about those games with the Yankees. . . . You see guys, they go from being snow cold to 130 degrees . . . ”
He didn’t say: “Faster than a speeding bullet.” But you get the idea.