Move over, Pudge. Make room, Big Papi. Change seats, Manny. Make way, Trot. You have company on the Red Sox postseason home run heroics list.
Christian Vazquez smashed a two-run homer to the Monster Seats inleft-center in the bottom of the 13th inning Sunday night for a 6-4 triumph and 2-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in their American League Division series.
The mob scene at home plate, accompanied by the rousing cheers of 37,244 fans at Fenway Park, was unimaginable just three nights earlier after the Rays shut out the Sox, 5-0, in the opener of the best-of-five series. But here they are, these bewildering Red Sox, one victory from playing for the American League pennant. They will try to take that next step in Game 4 Monday night at Fenway.
Raise your hand if back in April you thought the Red Sox would still be playing on Columbus Day. If you did, I say, “Yeah, right!” This team was a giant question mark coming out of spring training.
But here we are, Columbus Day weekend, and the Red Sox have a reasonable chance to knock off the first-place, 100 game-winning Rays thanks to their 20-hit, 14-6 rout in Game 2 Friday night, and their dramatic triumph in Game 3.
Heroes? Kike Hernandez had a career night with a home run, three doubles and a single in Game 2. He scored three and drove in three. Rafael Devers, Zander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo, and J.D. Martinez also homered, tying the American League record. Martinez had four hits and Bogaerts, Verdugo and Christian Vazquez three each.
Hernandez homered again Sunday night and singled twice, driving in two runs and scoring one. He had seven consecutive hits between the two games, a club record. Kyle Schwarber led off the Boston first Sunday with a home run and added two singles in Boston’s 15-hit attack. Christian Arroyo doubled and singled twice.
Heroes? Erstwhile ace Chris Sale lasted just one inning In Game 2 during which the Rays roughed him up for four hits and a Jordan Luplow grand slam on an 0-2 pitch for a 5-2 lead. But Tanner Houck threw five innings of exquisite relief, buying time for the Boston batters to rally.
Nathan Eovaldi, who stymied the Yankees in the one-game Wild Card playoff Oct. 5, delivered another clutch performance Sunday night. He went five innings, allowed three hits and two runs, struck out 8 and walked only one. Nick Pivetta pitched the last four innings, scattered three hits, held the Rays scoreless, walked one and struck out seven.
Strikeouts accounted for 20 of Tampa Bay’s 39 outs.
But Vazquez, who replaced the starting catcher, Kevin Plawecki in the sixth inning, was THE HERO of Game 3. With Renfroe on first after a walk, Vazquez swung at Luis Patino’s first-pitch fastball. The crack of hardwood against cowhide was sweet music in the autumn night, topped only by the roar of the crowd as the ball flew into the first row of the Monster Seats.
As Vazquez rounded the bases, Carlton Fisk (1975 World Series Game 6), David Ortiz (2004 ALDS Game 3, 2004 ALCS Game 4), Manny Ramirez (2007 ALDS Game 2) and Trot Nixon (2003 ALDS Game 3) slid over and welcomed the newest Red Sox Walkoff Wonder.
