Kike Hernandez lifted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night, giving the Boston Red Sox a 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park. Boston wins the series 3-1 and advances to the ALCS.
Boston broke out to a big early lead in the third inning. Colin McHugh had started on the mound and went just the first two innings for Tampa Bay, as they turned to starter Shane McClanahan who had shut down the Sox in a Game 1 Rays win. Christian Vazquez led with a single, but then Christian Arroyo flied out before Kyle Schwarber walked. Hernandez flied out to left for the second out, before the bats then really came alive with five straight hits. Rafael Devers started that with a towering three-run homerun into the centerfield bleachers. Xander Bogaerts followed that with a single, before Alex Verdugo doubled him in and JD Martinez singled to drive in Verdugo to make it 5-0.
Eduardo Rodriguez was great on the hill for Boston going 5+ and pitching to one batter in the sixth, ending up being charged with two earned runs. Austin Meadows RBI groundout in the fifth and a two-run homer by Wander Franco off Tanner Houck in the sixth cut it to 5-3. Tampa would tie it in the eighth off Ryan Brasier. Mike Zunino and Kevin Kiermaier led off with back to back doubles to right, and then Randy Arozarena made it 5-5 with a single also to right field. Boston right fielder Hunter Renfroe tried to throw home to cut down Kiermaier, and that allowed Arozarena to get into scoring position at second with still no outs. Garrett Whitlock then came on out of the bullpen and retired Franco on a fly out, and then Brandon Lowe and Nelson Cruz on groundouts to keep it tied. The Red Sox had a chance to re-take the lead in the bottom half when Verdugo reached second on a throwing error to first on a ball hit to Franco. Martinez though then flied out, and Renfroe did the same to Kiermaier in center. On the play, Verdugo attempted to tag up and go to third but was thrown out by Kiermaier. The Rays went in order in the top of the ninth against Whitlock, setting it up for the dramatics against J.P. Feyereisen in the bottom half. Vazquez, who was the hero with the walkoff two-run homer on Sunday night in the 13th inning, led off with a single. Arroyo then laid down a bunt to sacrifice Vazquez to second base. Travis Shaw then pinch hit for Bobby Dalbec and would reach on an infield single to third baseman Yandy Diaz to put runners at the corners. Danny Santana would enter to pinch run for Vazquez. Hernandez then put an end to the series by lofting a flyball to the left fielder Meadows. Santana would tag up and score easily as the throw by Meadows was up the first base line, sending the Fenway faithful into hysterics for second straight night.
Whitlock (1-0) picked up the win with 2.0 perfect innings. Rodriguez gave up the two runs on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts in a nice bounce back performance for him after a Game 1 loss to Tampa Bay. Devers had three hits, while Martinez and Vazquez had two a piece. Feyereisen (0-1) took the loss for the Rays, and McClanahan was really touched up allowing five runs on five hits in just 2/3 of an inning. Arozarena and Kiermaier had two hits each, as the defending A.L. Champs and 2021 A.L. East Division Champs end their season at 101-65. Hernandez ended up 9-16 at the plate in the last three games to help the Red Sox back into the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2018. Boston will head to Houston to face the Astros in Game 1 on Friday night at 8:07. This will be the fifth consecutive ALCS appearance for Houston.
