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Rays demolish Red Sox, move to World Series doorstep

Oct 15, 2008 - 4:44 AM By Tom Covill PA SportsTicker Assistant Baseball Editor

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays have spent the past two nights taking batting practice off Boston Red Sox pitching, and the offensive onslaught has them one step away from the World Series.

Evan Longoria homered and Willy Aybar drove in five runs as the Rays dominated the Red Sox, 13-4, on Tuesday in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.

Carl Crawford went 5-for-5 and Carlos Pena homered for Tampa Bay, which holds a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series and can clinch a trip to the World Series behind James Shields on Thursday.

"We're really excited right now," Crawford said. "It's right there for us to get, and I just hope we can get it."

"Going into the next game, we're going to take (Wednesday) off," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We're going to come back out and I want to see us go after it the same way. It was one of our more complete games (Tuesday), I thought, in regard to all facets."

Tampa Bay stunned Boston in Game Three on Monday, belting four homers in a 9-1 victory, and carried its homer barrage over to the first inning of Game Four, when Pena followed a one-out walk to B.J. Upton with a towering blast into the "Green Monster" seats off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

"To be honest with you, even during the regular season, I've never heard this place that quiet," Upton said. "I think that was our goal, was to take the crowd out of it. The more we jump on them early, the more we're able to do that. So hopefully, we can come out Thursday and do the same thing."

Longoria followed with a solo shot to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. The blast gave Longoria five in the postseason, breaking the rookie record set by Miguel Cabrera with the 2003 Florida Marlins.

"The first inning, he left some balls up," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Wakefield. "The balls he left up got whacked pretty good."

"(Wakefield) left some up early in that first inning, and me and (Pena) both took advantage of it," Longoria said. "(The knuckleball) just wasn't dancing as much as it normally does for him, and like (Jon) Lester (on Monday), we jumped on him early, took the crowd out of it and it really worked in our favor."

Wakefield retired the side in order in the second and set down the first two batters in the third before Crawford slapped a weak grounder to the right side of the infield. Wakefield got to the dribbler but could not get it out of his glove quickly enough, allowing the speedy Crawford to reach.

Aybar followed and worked the count to 2-1 before driving a high knuckleball into the seats above the "Monster" for a 5-0 advantage.

"In the third inning, he's four pitches in, gets two outs, 0-2 count, get the squibber, then a home run," Francona said. "In a night that was filled with a lot of things that didn't go right, that was a huge turn in the game for us."

Wakefield (0-1) was removed after 2 2/3 innings, having allowed five runs and six hits while walking two and striking out a pair. It was the shortest outing for a Boston starter in the playoffs since Bronson Arroyo lasted two innings in Game Three of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees.

The five-run lead was plenty for Rays righthander Andy Sonnanstine (1-0), who allowed four runs - three earned - and six hits in 7 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out two.

"For me, it was awesome," Sonnanstine said. "Before I even threw the first pitch of the game, I was already off to a 3-0 lead. It's exciting every time I've got to get up and go slap hands with the guys who've just scored, and I did that quite a bit tonight, so I was real happy about that."

Tampa Bay's No. 4 starter, Sonnanstine easily handled Boston in a pair of September starts, tossing 13 innings without allowing an earned run. The 25-year-old carried that success into October, setting down 12 in a row before David Ortiz led off the seventh with a triple.

"Andy set the tone for us, once again, really threw strikes," Maddon said. "I always pay attention to the radar-gun readings with him. He was a lot of 87, 89 (miles per hour), which was really good, actually a lot of 88s and 89s. When he's pitching at that velocity, there's a bigger disparity between that and his off-speed stuff, and that's when he really does well."

The Rays piled on against the Red Sox's bullpen, adding a run against righthander Justin Masterson in the fifth and five against Manny Delcarmen in the sixth.

Lauded mostly for its pitching and defense before the postseason, Tampa Bay has pounded out 31 runs in the past three games with the aid of 10 homers.

"I know we have a great offense, but I sure didn't know we were going to score that many runs," Sonnanstine said. "And to see us do it really puts a smile on my face. It's astounding what they're doing at the plate right now."

Boston showed some signs of life in the eighth, when Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis each plated a run, but it was too little, too late.

An ALCS deficit is nothing new to the Red Sox, who were down three games to one to the Cleveland Indians en route to winning the World Series in 2007 and dug out of a three-games-to-none hole against the Yankees in 2004.

"I hope it's relevant," Francona said of Boston's past success in such situations. "I think every year is different. But rather than burden ourselves with what we look at four days from now, we'll set our sights on our next game and we'll come packed. That's, I think, the best way to go about it."

"It's gone very well," Longoria said. "Obviously, in my eyes, a little bit better than expected. Just the offensive onslaught we've put on the last couple of days has been pretty unbelievable. We still can't let down. Like I said (Monday), we've seen these guys come back from 3-1 and even 3-0. (Thursday) is a going to be a big day. It will take a little pressure off if we end this thing (then)."