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October 12, 2008

Rays beat Boston in ALCS thriller

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays won a game of home run derby with a shallow fly ball.

Pinch-runner Fernando Perez dashed home on Upton’s sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and the Rays outlasted the Boston Red Sox 9-8 early Sunday, evening the AL championship series at one game each.

The teams combined for seven home runs, tying a postseason record. But after 1:30 a.m., the Rays won a game that lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes when Perez beat right fielder J.D. Drew’s throw home.

The series shifts to Fenway Park for Game 3 Monday, with left-hander Jon Lester pitching for Boston against Matt Garza.

Dustin Pedroia homered twice for Boston, and scored on a wild pitch in the eighth that made it 8-all.

Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin walked Dioner Navarro and Ben Zobrist to begin the 11th and Jason Bartlett grounded out, moving runners to second and third. After Akinori Iwamura was intentionally walked to load the bases, Upton — who had homered earlier — followed with fly ball down the right-field line.

Drew settled under the ball, but rushed and made an off-line throw that two-hopped home. Perez scored easily — he stole 43 bases in Triple-A this season, and went 5-for-5 on steal tries with Tampa Bay.

Rookie David Price earned the win. He entered with a runner on first and one out in the 11th and walked Drew, but struck out Mark Kotsay and retired Coco Crisp on a grounder.

Jonathan Papelbon pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings, getting the defending World Series champion Red Sox to the 11th. He extended his career postseason scoreless streak to a major league-record 22 innings over 14 appearances.

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