Red
Sox come back, force game seven in New York
NEW
YORK (AP) -- The resilient Boston Red Sox
rallied just in time.
Trailing
by two runs and nine outs from ending their
season, they rebounded with a three-run
seventh inning to beat the New York Yankees
9-6 Wednesday and set up a whopper of a
Game 7.
David
Ortiz tied it with a run-scoring single
and Johnny Damon drove in the go-ahead run
with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh
inning that tied the AL championship series.
That
brings the series down to one game Thursday
night, and it has all the makings of a classic:
Roger Clemens versus Pedro Martinez, the
central characters who set off fireworks
and fights during Game 3 at Fenway Park.
Slumping
Nomar Garciaparra had four hits, including
a wind-blown triple that started the three-run
seventh and atoned for an earlier error.
Jason Varitek hit a third-inning homer off
starter Andy Pettitte, and Trot Nixon added
a two-run shot in the ninth off Gabe White
as the Red Sox beat up New York for 16 hits
and moved within one win of their first
trip to the World Series since 1986.
New
York and Boston will play for the 26th time
Thursday -- the most meetings ever between
two teams in a season. It marks the first
time the championship series in both leagues
will go a full seven games in the same season.
Homers
by Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada, and a
two-run double by Alfonso Soriano staked
New York to a 6-4 lead. But reliever Jose
Contreras couldn't hold it.
A
swirling 25 mph wind floated napkins across
the field all game, and the conditions made
it difficult for fielders on both teams,
spinning line drives into twisting gappers.
"It's
all over the place," Giambi said after
batting practice.
Boston,
the top offense in the major leagues during
the regular season, had been hitting just
.230 in the playoffs and hadn't scored more
than five runs in 10 postseason games. But
the Red Sox remembered back to the first
round, when they fell behind Oakland 0-2
before winning three in a row to advance.
Contreras
relieved Pettitte to start the sixth and
struck out the side, but his pitches got
up in the seventh and he wound up the loser.
Garciaparra,
who didn't get his first postseason RBI
until Tuesday, hit a deep drive to center
leading off the inning, and the ball gusted
over Bernie Williams for a triple. Garciaparra
came home when the wind sent left fielder
Hideki Matsui's throw to third sailing on
a hop into the seats for an error.
Manny
Ramirez hit a similar shot over Williams
for a double, took third on a wild pitch
and scored the tying run when Ortiz smashed
a single off first base.
Felix
Heredia relieved with one out and two on,
threw a wild pitch that moved up the runners,
then threw a called third strike past Nixon.
After
an intentional walk to Varitek, Heredia
walked Damon on four pitches -- two of them
close -- forcing in the go-ahead run. Heredia
then fanned Todd Walker.
Alan
Embree, who struck out Giambi to help escape
a big jam in the fifth, got the win. Scott
Williamson, Boston's sixth pitcher, got
three outs for his third save of the series.
Following
the Game 3 fights at Fenway Park, security
was increased as the series returned to
Yankee Stadium. Two dozen police officers
were in Monument Park, behind the bullpens,
at start of the game. Fans greeted Ramirez,
a central party in Saturday's confrontations,
with the loudest boos.
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