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Boston Red Sox try to become just the 12th team in major league history to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series when they play Game 7 of the American League Championship Series this evening against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Boston forced a decisive seventh game in this set on Saturday, as Kevin Youkilis homered and drove in a pair, while Jason Varitek hit a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth, lifting the defending champions to a 4-2 win and squaring the series at three games apiece.
Varitek's homer was his first hit of the series, while David Ortiz went 2- for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Red Sox, who last year rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS against Cleveland en route to their second World Series title in four years.
Boston has three times come back from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven ALCS -- 1986 against the Angels, 2004 against the Yankees and last year against the Indians. The 1985 Kansas City Royals are the only other AL team to accomplish the feat since the format was switched to a best-of-seven in 1985.
This is the eighth time that a team has forced a Game 7 after being down 3-1 in the LCS. Six of the seven previous teams coming back from that deficit finished the task in Game 7. The '85 Royals and '04 Red Sox also won Game 7 on the road, as did the 2003 Florida Marlins.
B.J. Upton homered -- his seventh of the playoffs -- for the Rays, who in Game 5 on Thursday squandered a seven-run lead along with a chance to move to their first-ever World Series in an 8-7 loss.
Josh Beckett (1-0) tossed five solid innings to get the win, while James Shields (1-2) absorbed the loss, allowing four runs -- three earned -- in 5 2/3 frames.
Jonathan Papelbon worked a 1-2-3 ninth to get the save and extended his postseason-record scoreless innings streak to 25. Papelbon has been tremendous in these playoffs, working 10 1/3 scoreless innings, while racking up three saves and a win.
The Red Sox, who are 9-0 under Terry Francona in ALCS elimination games, will have left-hander Jon Lester on the hill this evening. Lester was brilliant through his first two postseason starts, but was roughed up by the Rays in Game 3, surrendering five runs (four earned) and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Lester, though, is 4-0 lifetime against the Rays in the regular season with a 3.38 ERA in seven starts. However, despite winning 16 games this season, Lester was just 5-5 on the road with a 4.09 ERA in 16 starts.
Tampa, meanwhile, will counter with righty Matt Garza, who defeated Lester in that Game 3 start on Monday. Garza gave up just a run and six hits in six innings of that one. He had surrendered five runs and seven hits to the White Sox in his ALDS start.
Garza is 3-1 in six regular season starts against the Red Sox with a 3.86 ERA.
One player that Garza will have to slow down is Youkilis, who has driven in six runs in this series and has hit safely in 12 of 13 career ALCS games. However, he has just one hit off Garza in his career and was 0-for-4 against him in Game 3.
Upton and Evan Longoria have combined to hit 13 homers this postseason, the most by a pair of teammates under the age of 25 and one shy of the overall postseason record accomplished by Barry Bonds and Rich Aurilia for San Francisco in 2005.
Tampa's 15 homers in this series are an ALCS record, while Upton's seven blasts this postseason have tied Troy Glaus' (2002) AL record. Barry Bonds (2002) and Carlos Beltran (2004) hold the major league record with eight home runs in one postseason.
Tonight's contest will be the 14th Game 7 in LCS history. The home team has won eight of those matchups.
While the defending world champion Red Sox are ALCS regulars, appearing in this round for the fourth time in the last six years, the Rays of course are new to the party, playing in their first-ever postseason.
Boston is 3-5 all-time in Game 7's, while the Rays, of course, will be playing in their first-ever such contest. The Red Sox, who will advance to their 12th World Series with a win tonight, are 3-1 in their four ALCS Game 7 matchups.
These teams are obviously no stranger to one another, having played 18 times throughout the regular season. Tampa managed to win 10 of those contests, going 8-1 in the nine matchups at the Trop.
Tonight's winner will host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday. The Phillies defeated Los Angeles on Wednesday to advance to the Fall Classic.
