The Boston Red Sox were coming off a 2006 season in which they’d held first place in the AL East for almost the full season, until early August. They finished in third place, 11 games behind the New York Yankees.

Returning for their home opener at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were 3-3 after games on the road against the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.

The Seattle Mariners arrived in Boston for a Tuesday afternoon game. They were 2-1, after hosting the Oakland A’s for three games, but then had not played for five days, April 5-9, due to a snowed-out weekend in Cleveland.

Before the game, the Red Sox honored the “Impossible Dream Red Sox” team of 1967, in this its 40th-anniversary year, with some 20 alumni brought back to Boston for the occasion.

There were snow flurries as late as 11:30 AM, preceding the 2:08 PM start. Game-time temperature was 43 degrees.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona started Josh Beckett; Mariners manager Mike Hargrove started right-hander Jeff Weaver, now pitching for his fifth major-league team.

Beckett had won 16 games for the Red Sox in 2006, his first year with the team, but had a far-from-impressive earned run average of 5.01.

He got off to a great start in 2007. Beckett retired the side in order, without the ball leaving the infield. Weaver walked Red Sox leadoff batter Julio Lugo on four pitches. Kevin Youkilis singled and so did David Ortiz. The bases were loaded with nobody out. Manny Ramirez singled, driving in one. J.D. Drew hit a sacrifice fly to center, deep enough for Youkilis to score and for Ortiz to tag up and take third. Two batters later, center fielder Coco Crisp doubled (fan interference was called) and two more runs scored. It was 4-0, Red Sox after the first inning. Weaver, who hadn’t worked for 10 days, had thrown 47 pitches.

Beckett faced three more batters in the top of the second. With two groundouts bracketing a strikeout, again not one ball left the infield.

In the bottom of the second, Lugo led off again — this time doubling to left. Then Youkilis also doubled to left, driving in Lugo. Ortiz and Ramirez both made outs but right fielder Drew homered to center field to make the score 7-0.

Beckett’s mojo didn’t hold. Kenji Johjima singled and Yuniesky Betancourt doubled, Johjima holding at third base. Second baseman Jose Lopez grounded out to second base, Johjima scampering home with the first Seattle run. No more damage was done.

Jake Woods took over mound duties for the Mariners. Catcher Jason Varitek singled to lead off the third. After a fly out, a base on balls moved Varitek to second; he then scored the eighth Red Sox run when Lugo singled to left.

Beckett had another 1-2-3 inning, two of them on fly balls. The Red Sox scored again in the bottom of the fourth. After Ramirez walked and Drew reached on an error, third baseman Mike Lowell doubled to left, driving in Ramirez. Varitek singled to center, driving in both Drew and Lowell. The score after four was 11-1, Red Sox.

Top of the fifth — Beckett had another inning where he faced only three batters and no ball left the infield. And the Red Sox offense — for the fifth inning in succession — scored again. This time they faced a third pitcher, Brandon Morrow. This time they got two runs. The first scored when Lowell hit into a double play, the second when Varitek doubled to left. The score was Boston 13, Seattle 1.

On 12 pitches, Josh Beckett struck out the side in the sixth, getting Ichiro Suzuki for the third time in three plate appearances. (All three K’s were on swinging third strikes.) Terry Francona praised Jason Varitek as much as Beckett for whiffing Ichiro all three times he came up to bat. “We caught a break,” he said. “Chalk it up to good timing. … Tek does a fabulous job of making adjustments as the game goes on. You keep (Ichiro) off base, you just count your blessings and move on. The minute you think you’ve got him figured out, he’ll throw four hits on you so fast, and they’ll all be in different directions. We respect that. He’s phenomenal.”2

Another new pitcher came in from the Mariners bullpen in the Boston sixth. Julio Mateo allowed a hit, a double by Youkilis, but the Red Sox failed to score.

Beckett had another no-ball-left-the-infield inning in the seventh. The Red Sox faced the fifth Seattle pitcher after the seventh-inning stretch, Chris Reitsma. Eric Hinske doubled, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on Lowell’s sacrifice fly.

Beckett had thrown only 84 pitches, but with the score 14-1 and nothing like a no-hitter in progress (he had given up two hits, struck out eight, and walked no one — Beckett retired each of the last 15 batters he faced), Terry Francona sent Brendan Donnelly in to pitch the eighth. He struck out the first batter, Jose Guillen, who made a move toward the mound after Donnelly struck him out, saying that Donnelly had made a rude gesture to him. Some words and gestures followed. The benches cleared and there was pushing and shoving. Guillen was ejected. Then Donnelly hit the second better he faced. He too was ejected, replaced by Hideki Okajima, who secured the final two outs.

J.J. Putz, the sixth Mariners pitcher, retired the Red Sox 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth. With a 13-run lead, it was likely they wouldn’t need to bat in the ninth. The Mariners batted in the ninth, of course. Mike Timlin relieved Okajima. He gave up a single, got a couple of outs, then walked Raul Ibanez. Richie Sexson doubled so deeply to center that both runners scored, Ibanez all the way from first. Timlin got the third out. The final score was 14-3, Red Sox.

Of Beckett, Jeff Weaver said afterward, “He was very impressive. He was painting his fastball on both sides of the plate. He was throwing his changeup for strikes. He had the curveball going. All of that keeps the hitters off balance and prevents them from sitting back and waiting for the fastball.”3

Beckett’s 20 wins in 2007 led the majors. He was 20-7, with a 3.27 ERA, and was 4-0 in postseason play, the MVP of the ALCS.

It was the biggest blowout in 119 Red Sox home openers. There was just one home run in the game, Drew’s. The Red Sox doubled seven times — half of their 14 base hits. The Mariners hit safely only four times, and made the game’s only two errors.

Most of the 35,847 fans in attendance were Red Sox fans and after 3 hours and 6 minutes went home happy.

The Red Sox season played out nicely. Eight days later, they took first place after the 13th game of the season and never left. Memory of the “humiliating implosion” of 2006 faded as the season progressed. They swept the Angels in the ALDS, beat the Indians in a hard-fought seven-game ALCS, and then swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. After the 86-year gap from 1918 to 2004, the Red Sox had won their second World Series championship in four years.

The Mariners finished second in the AL West, six games behind the Angels.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted both Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200704100.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B04100BOS2007.htm

Notes

1 Editorial, “Baseball’s Eternal Return,” Boston Globe, April 10, 2007: 14.

2 Gordon Edes, “Have They Hit in Something Vs. Ichiro?” Boston Globe, April 11, 2007: 42.

3 Jackie McMullan, “Icy Efficiency from Beckett,” Boston Globe, April 11, 2007: 41.

The season was still young on April 18. Boston came into the game with a record of 7-5. The furthest the Red Sox had been out of first place was one game, after losing to the Kansas City Royals on Opening Day.1 Since then, they had spent a handful of days in first. A 2-1 loss in the first of three games in Toronto had dropped them into second, a half-game behind the Blue Jays.

Starting the second game of the series on Wednesday evening for John Gibbons and the Blue Jays was former Red Sox pitcher Tomo Ohka, in his ninth year in the United States.2 He’d struggled in his first two starts and came into the game with a 7.84 ERA. He got off to a solid start against Boston, though, facing the minimum 12 batters over the first four innings. The only Red Sox batter to reach base was Manny Ramírez on a walk to lead off the second, but he was erased on a double play.

Ohka continued his hitless string by retiring the first two batters in the top of the fifth. With two outs, nobody on, and a count of 1-and-2, third baseman Mike Lowell homered over the wall in left field. Lowell’s first home run of the season gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Boston manager Terry Francona had Tim Wakefield start. The knuckleballing Wakefield was in his 15th major-league season pitching and would turn 41 years old in August. He already had 152 career regular-season wins to his credit.3 Wakefield allowed a harmless single in the first inning. He retired the side in order in the second and third, but then had problems with his command in the bottom of the fourth, walking three batters to load the bases. Pitching coach John Farrell paid a visit to the mound.4 Wakefield then struck out catcher Jason Phillips.

After Lowell’s homer provided the lead, Wakefield retired the side in order in the bottom of the fifth. Doug Mirabelli – who usually caught when Wakefield was pitching – helped his batterymate with a solo home run, his second of the season, leading off the Red Sox sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Wakefield gave up a two-out double to DH Frank Thomas but induced first baseman Lyle Overbay to pop up to shortstop Julio Lugo.

The leadoff batter in the seventh was Boston’s DH, David Ortiz, and he kicked off the inning with another solo home run, this one also to left. A season after leading the AL with 54 homers, Ortiz had his fifth home run of 2007. It was just the third hit Ohka had allowed, but all three had been four-base hits.

One out later, J.D. Drew singled to right, and Gibbons made the call to the bullpen, bringing in Victor Zambrano to relieve Ohka.

Lowell singled to right. Crisp grounded into a force play at second, leaving the Red Sox with two outs and runners on first and third. Mirabelli singled to right-center and drove in Drew for a 4-0 Boston lead.

Wakefield set down the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh, but the Blue Jays then broke his shutout. Shortstop Royce Clayton doubled to left. Swinging at the next pitch, third baseman John McDonald singled to left field and Clayton scored. Right fielder Álex Ríos flied out to center for the third out. It was 4-1, Red Sox.

Francona went to the bullpen after seven innings and 135 pitches from Wakefield. Brendan Donnelly pitched a one-two-three eighth, capping the inning by striking out Thomas on three pitches.

In the bottom of the ninth, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon took over. He struck out Overbay but then saw second baseman Aaron Hill ground a single up the middle. Gregg Zaun, batting for Phillips, walked on six pitches. Batting for Clayton, Jason Smith struck out on three pitches. A third pinch-hitter – Adam Lind, batting for McDonald – made the third out, striking out swinging.

Wakefield had allowed four hits and three walks but just one run. After his fourth-inning control struggles, he had gone to three-ball counts only twice. The Globe and Mail wrote that Wakefield’s “pitches don’t sizzle as much as they fizzle, wafting to the plate at pedestrian speeds that can still lay waste to many a major-league hitter. … It is like trying to corral bubbles on a blustery day.”5

“Nobody ever wants to face a knuckleballer in a dome,” Thomas said.6

Fellow Red Sox pitcher Mike Timlin had just turned 41 in March. He joked, “When I grow up, I’m going to be just like him.”7 Wakefield made 31 starts in 2007 and matched his career high with 17 wins.

With the win, Boston climbed over Toronto in the standings. They beat the Blue Jays again, 5-3, the next day, then retrained to Boston, where they swept three from the New York Yankees.

Beginning with this win, the Red Sox were 9-3 to close out April and were four games up in the AL East Division heading into May. They had a 10½-game lead at the end of May and kept that margin at the end of June.

July saw their lead drop to seven games over the second-place Yankees. It was down to five at the end of August.

As September unfolded, the lead became a bit precarious – dipping to just a game and a half on September 10 after the Red Sox lost three games in a row to the Blue Jays in Toronto – but it held. They finished first in the East, two games ahead of New York.

The Yankees played the Cleveland Indians in the AL Division Series, losing in four games while the Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It was Cleveland that Boston beat in the seven-game AL Championship Series, before the Red Sox faced the magical Rockies team that had won 14 of their final 15 games and then swept the NLDS and NLCS for a total of 21-1 before they came up against a Red Sox team that swept them in the World Series itself.

After the sixth game of the 2008 season, the Red Sox were finally bumped from first place. They finished second – to Tampa Bay – in the AL East, and beat the Angels in the ALDS but lost to the Rays in the ALCS.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Thanks to Adrian Fung for providing Toronto newspaper accounts of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR200704180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B04180TOR2007.htm

Notes

1 They were also one game behind after the games of April 11.

2 Ohka had begun his US career with the Red Sox in 1999 and pitched for them until he was traded to the Montreal Expos on the last day of July in 2001.

3 Wakefield also had five postseason wins, all in League Championship Series play. He also had 22 career saves, including the 15 for the ’99 Red Sox that tied him with Derek Lowe for the team lead that year.

4 Catcher Mirabelli said Wakefield had been “jumping a little bit, hurrying to the plate.” Farrell said he needed to “sit back over the rubber a little longer and to keep his head in a more proper position.” Amalie Benjamin, “Wakefield Engineered a Mechanical Beauty,” Boston Globe, April 19, 2007: E5.

5 Robert MacLeod, “Wakefield’s Knuckler Handcuffs Jays,” Toronto Globe and Mail, April 19, 2007: S2.  

6 Allan Ryan, “Wakefield Frustrates Jays Again,” Toronto Star, April 19, 2007: B3. For his part, Wakefield said, “I’ve always loved pitching here. The mound is probably the best mound in the American League, and pitching inside is always a big plus for me. The ball moves a little bit more inside versus outside, where you’ve got a lot of weather conditions that can hinder something.” Associated Press, “No Place Like Dome for Tim,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, April 19, 2007: 17.

7 Gordon Edes, “Bats Able to Pitch In,” Boston Globe, April 19, 2007: E1.

On Friday night, April 20, Boston beat New York, 7-6, thanks for a five-run bottom of the eighth. In a late-afternoon game on Saturday, the Red Sox won again, 7-5. The Red Sox were in first place in the American League East Division with an 11-5 record; the Yankees were third at 8-8.

The April 22 game was an 8:10 P.M. start and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast, with rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka starting for Terry Francona and the Red Sox, while Joe Torre and the Yankees pinned their hopes on left-hander Chase Wright. It was Wright’s second big-league game; he had won his first five days earlier, beating the Cleveland Indians, 10-3.

Matsuzaka was 1-2 in the still-young season, but his teammates had scored only one run in the two losses combined.

He gave up two runs in the top of the first inning in this one. After two outs, right fielder Bobby Abreu was walked  and Matsuzaka hit third baseman Alex Rodríguez with a pitch. Rodríguez already had 12 home runs after just 16 games, with 31 RBIs. The DH, Jason Giambi, doubled to left-center, the ball hopping up and hitting the wall, driving in both runners. Robinson Canó then grounded out.

Wright quickly dug a hole for himself, walking the Red Sox’ leadoff batter, shortstop Julio Lugo, who stole second with first baseman Kevin Youkilis batting. Wright then walked Youkilis. He worked out of trouble, getting both David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez to fly to right-center, then striking out right fielder J.D. Drew.

“Dice-K” retired the side in order in the top of the second. The Red Sox had two two-out baserunners in the bottom of the inning after Wily Mo Peña walked and Dustin Pedroia doubled, but Wright again escaped damage as Lugo grounded out. 

In the third, Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon singled up the middle, advancing to second when Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch. Matsuzaka struck out Abreu and A-Rod, but saw the Yankees bump up the score to 3-0 when Giambi looped a single to short right field, scoring Damon. Canó struck out.

Wright began the bottom of the inning by getting Youkilis and Ortiz to fly out, Ortiz to left field not far from the stands.

Then the game took a turn. On a 2-and-1 count, Manny Ramírez – batting only .190 – homered high into the Green Monster seats in left-center. It was his second homer of the season and the 472nd of his career.

Drew then homered several rows deep over the Red Sox bullpen in right-center field on a 1-and-2 count.2 Third baseman Mike Lowell homered high and over everything in left field to make it three in a row. Jason Varitek joined in with a home run of his own, right onto the top of the Monster, giving Boston a 4-3 lead. The four solo home runs in succession set a team record.3 All had been hit in a 10-pitch span.   

“Needless to say, the place went pretty much kablooey,” wrote one reporter.4

“It certainly brought some life back into the ballpark in a hurry,” manager Francona said after the game.5

Wright struck out Peña to close the inning. “We told (Peña) he (stinks),” joked Lowell afterward.6

Wright himself allowed, “It was a whirlwind right there. That’s what happened when you leave pitches up in the zone.”7

Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz – like Damon, another Red Sox alumnus from the 2004 championship team – hit a ground-rule double to the 420-foot mark in center field to lead off the New York fourth. None of the next three batters got the ball out of the infield.  

Colter Bean relieved Wright in the fourth. He’d worked one game for the Yankees in 2005, two in 2006, and this was his first of what became three appearances in 2007 – the sum total of his work in the majors. Lugo drew a one-out walk and Ortiz hit a two-out ground-rule double into the right-field corner, but no one scored.

Derek Jeter led off the top of the fifth with a home run into the first row of the Monster seats in left, tying the game 4-4. Abreu and Rodríguez both struck out, and Giambi popped up foul to Varitek.

Bean walked two and saw a stolen base in the fifth, but no runs scored.

The Yankees took a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth. Canó singled to left, took third on Mientkiewicz’s single to right, and scored when left fielder Melky Cabrera grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Andy Pettitte – who had returned to the Yankees as a free agent after three seasons with the Houston Astros – relieved Bean. The 34-year-old lefty walked Youkilis with one out in the sixth, then induced Ortiz to hit into a double play.

Matsuzaka retired the three batters he faced in the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Scott Proctor became the fourth Yankees pitcher of the game, working for a third consecutive day. Ramírez singled to the left of the second baseman. Drew doubled off the wall in left.

With runners on second and third, Mike Lowell hit a three-run homer to straightaway left, just inches inside the foul line.8 The Red Sox took a 7-5 lead, with all seven of the runs on homers.

Luis Vizcaino replaced Proctor. Vizcaino secured a couple of outs, saw two batters reach base, and then got the third out.

In the eighth inning, the Red Sox used three pitchers to preserve the lead. Rodríguez singled to right field. Francona called on Hideki Okajima to relieve Matsuzaka after 108 pitches. Giambi popped up to Lowell at third base. Canó singled to center, with Rodríguez stopping at second base. Jorge Posada pinch-hit for Mientkiewicz and walked, loading the bases for Cabrera.9

Francona called in Brendan Donnelly to take over from Okajima. Cabrera grounded into a force play at second base, while Rodriguez scored. The Yankees were trailing by just one run, 7-6. Pinch-hitter Josh Phelps lined to Pedroia at second base for the third out. The Boston Globe called it the “defensive play of the game, stabbing a wicked liner.”10

Sean Henn pitched for New York in the bottom of the eighth. Two batters reached base – Ramírez on a one-out single and Lowell on a two-out walk. Varitek grounded into an inning-ending force out at second base.

Jonathan Papelbon came in to close out the game and hold the one-run lead. He did. Damon lined out to left. Jeter struck out. Abreu walked, but Rodríguez grounded to Lowell at third, who threw to Pedroia for a force out at second. With their third win in three days, the Red Sox had swept the Yankees at Fenway Park for the first time since 1990.

Despite having given up six runs, Matsuzaka got the win, his first at Fenway Park. Proctor not only blew a save but bore the loss. Wright became only the second pitcher in American or National League history, after Paul Foytack of the 1963 Los Angeles Angels, to have surrendered four consecutive home runs.11

Wright was sent to the minors after the game, returning for one more game in the final game of the year, on September 30 in Baltimore. He won that one, 10-4, working the fourth and fifth innings and being in the right place at the right time as the game became official. His major-league career record stands at 2-0.

Matsuzaka finished the season with a record of 15-12 (4.40 ERA), with a very impressive 18-3 (2.90) record in 2008. Matsuzaka won Game Seven of the 2007 ALCS, helping send the Red Sox to the World Series, and won Game Three of the Series itself, as the Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Mike Lowell, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the ESPN video broadcast of the game on YouTube.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200704220.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B04220BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kIsyOB8fwE

https://www.mlb.com/video/red-sox-hit-four-consecutive-home-runs

Notes

1 The Yankees had won their last seven games at Fenway Park, including the five-game sweep from August 18-21, 2006.

2 Just the year before, Drew had been the second of four Los Angeles Dodgers who had homered consecutively in the September 18 game against the San Diego Padres. Later, his brother Stephen Drew was one of four who homered for the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 11, 2010.

3 The Red Sox thus tied the major-league record of four consecutive home runs, one that (through 2024) has been accomplished 11 times. In the first of the 11 games, the homering team lost the game. All 10 other games resulted in wins. The other games were:

• June 8, 1961: Milwaukee Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds: Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock, Frank Thomas. July 31, 1963: Cleveland Indians vs. Los Angeles Angels: Woodie Held, pitcher Pedro Ramos, Tito Francona, Larry Brown.
• May 2, 1964: Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City A’s: Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall, Harmon Killebrew.
• September 18, 2006: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres: Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin, Marlon Anderson.
• August 14, 2008: Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals: Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, Juan Uribe.
• August 11, 2010: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Milwaukee Brewers: Adam LaRoche, Miguel Montero, Mark Reynolds, Stephen Drew.
• July 27, 2017: Washington Nationals vs. Brewers: Brian Goodwin, Wilmer Difo, Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman.
• June 9, 2019: Nationals vs. San Diego Padres: Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, Anthony Rendon.
• August 16, 2020 White Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals: Yoán Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, José Abreu, Eloy Jiménez.
• July 2, 2022: Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Nolan Arenado, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, Dylan Carlson

4 Mike Fine, “Four Gone,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, April 23, 2007: 17. Fine quoted Matsuzaka: “In Japan, I’ve neither seen nor heard of such a thing taking place. It was the most I could do to contain my own excitement.”

5 Jack Curry, “Francona Uses His Power of Suggestion to the Benefit of the Red Sox,” New York Times, September 22, 2007: D2.

6 Fine, 20.

7 Tyler Kepner, “Five Home Runs, One Big Sweep: Yanks Overcome 4 Homers in a Row Early, but One More Is Too Much,” New York Times, September 22, 2007: D1.

8 “Lowell’s “professional estimate” was “an eight-inch clearance.” Bob Ryan, “Recounting 3rd-Inning Barrage Is a Real Blast,” Boston Globe, April 23, 2007: D6.

9 Posada had not caught the game, out with a sore thumb.

10 Gordon Edes, “Five Home Runs Help Sox to Series Sweep of Yankees,” Boston Globe, April 23, 2007: D6.

11 This April 22 game was played on Red Sox manager Terry Francona’s 48th birthday. One of Foytack’s four home runs was hit by Tito Francona, Terry’s father. After the 2007 game, Foytack said of Wright, “I kind of feel bad of the kid because he’s young. I’m going to tell him that these things happen and that he shouldn’t let it get to him.” When given an email address so that he could get in touch through the Yankees, Foytack said, “I don’t even know how to turn on the computer.” Jack Curry, “After 44 Years, Pitcher Gains a Partner in the Record Book,” New York Times, September 22, 2007: D2. In the 2010 game, Dave Bush surrendered all four home runs. In the 2017 game, the Nationals’ Michael Blazek gave up the four consecutive home runs, retired Daniel Murphy on a fly ball to deep center field, and then gave up a fifth home run to Anthony Rendon.

It was a sunny, cool Mother’s Day in Boston with temperatures in the upper 50s.  Fenway Park was sold out, as had become the norm over the preceding years. Many of the players were using pink bats, and wearing pink wrist bands, in support of breast cancer awareness for Mother’s Day. Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada, was playing in his 1,118th consecutive game, at the time moving into fifth place on the all-time list ahead of Billy Williams.1

The Red Sox’ starter was their ace, Josh Beckett. He had won his first seven games of the season, and was looking to tie the franchise record of eight straight victories to start the season, shared by Babe Ruth,Dave Ferriss, and Roger Moret.2 For the Orioles, Jeremy Guthrie was making just the fourth start of his career and only his third of the season, after previously being a reliever.  The Red Sox came into the game leading the American League East Division by seven games over the Orioles and New York Yankees.3 On paper it looked like a mismatch, but as the sports saying goes, the games aren’t played on paper.

Beckett pitched decently through four innings, giving up two runs on two hits, all in the first inning, but striking out seven.4 A torn flap of skin on the right-hander’s right middle finger led to his removal from the game after the fourth inning.5 It would turn out to be Beckett’s shortest outing, and the first of only three no-decisions, in a 20-win season, the only such feat of his career. The injury to his finger would land Beckett on the 15-day disabled list, with his next start not coming until May 29 against the Cleveland Indians.

Beckett was followed by Kyle Snyder and Javier Lopez, who combined to pitch 2 innings of 1-hit, 1-run ball. Joel Pineiro came on in the seventh inning and had a rough go of it. In an inning and two-thirds, he allowed six of the 10 batters he faced to reach base, on four hits and a pair of walks, with the Orioles scoring their final 2 runs of the game, to give them the 5-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Guthrie was cruising for Baltimore, taking that 5-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, having given up only three hits and two walks on just 85 pitches. Julio Lugo grounded out to shortstop to lead off the Red Sox ninth. Coco Crisp was next, and popped up a 0-and-2 pitch in front of home plate. Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez called for the ball, but dropped it near the third-base line for an error, allowing Crisp to reach first base.

Though Guthrie had pitched well up to that point, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo replaced him with Danys Baez. Baez, outside of two rough outings against the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers where he gave up a total of 5 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings, had pitched well thus far in the season, but promptly gave up an RBI double off the wall in left-center to David Ortiz. Wily Mo Pena, who had replaced Manny Ramirez in the top of the ninth inning, singled to put runners at first and third. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, Perlozzo brought in Orioles closer Chris Ray to try to earn the save. Ray fared no better than Baez, giving up a walk to J.D. Drew to load the bases, then another walk to Kevin Youkilis on a full count, to force in the second Red Sox run.

Jason Varitek, the seventh batter of the inning, hit the ball to the right-center-field gap and took second when Nick Markakis momentarily bobbled the ball. The official scorer credited Varitek with a 2-run double, his hit scoring Pena and Drew, and making the score 5-4 in favor of the Orioles. With one out and runners now at second and third, the Orioles issued an intentional walk to Eric Hinske to set up a force out at any base, or the possibility of a game-ending double play.

Alex Cora was the next batter, hitting a weak groundball to second base. The ball wasn’t hit hard enough to attempt a double play, so Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts elected to throw home to force out Youkilis. With the bases still loaded and now two outs, Julio Lugo, who had made the first out of the inning, came to bat.

Lugo worked the count full, then on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, hit a groundball to Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar, one of the heroes of the 2004 World Series champion Red Sox team. Millar ranged to his right to field the ball, as Ray ran over to cover first, with Varitek scoring. Millar tossed the ball to Ray, but the ball clanked off his glove, allowing Hinske, who had been the runner at second base, to score the winning run. A combination of four hits by the Red Sox and three walks and two errors by the Orioles, allowed the Red Sox to complete the comeback.

Coming into the bottom of the ninth, the win probability chart6 showed the Orioles with a 99 percent probability of winning the game. The Red Sox won 96games in 2007, and sweep the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.  Yet, as exciting as winning the World Series is, to come back from a 5-0 deficit with one out in the ninth inning and score six runs to win the game, likely makes this game the most exciting of the year.

Sources

baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200705130.shtml.

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B05130BOS2007.htm.

Notes

1 “Orioles Hand Six-Run Mother’s Day Gift to Red Sox in 9th,” espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270513102.Accessed October 6, 2018.

2 espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270513102.

3 baseball-reference.com/boxes/?year=2007&month=05&day=12.

4 baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200705130.shtml.

5 espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270513102.

6 baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200705130.shtml.

“Doesn’t matter if he throws a no-hitter, he’s going back down.” That’s what Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona said when right-hander Clay Buchholz was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket for his major-league debut, a spot start on August 17, 2007, three days after turning 23.1

Buchholz pitched well in that game, allowing three runs in six innings, and got the win, beating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park, 8-4. He was then returned to the Pawtucket Red Sox, as intended.

He got the call again during the third inning of Pawtucket’s game on the night of August 31. With less than 24 hours’ notice, he was summoned to Boston and asked to start the next evening’s game, against the Baltimore Orioles.

“I had to gather my stuff and get here,” said Buchholz, a Texas native whom the Red Sox had selected with a compensation pick in the first round of the June 2005 draft.2 “I didn’t sleep very well.”3 He was joined by five other players – including outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Brandon Moss – on the day that rosters expanded, September 1.4

With just one start and six innings of experience, Buchholz became the first Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter and only the third pitcher in the American or National League with a no-hitter in one of his first two appearances.5

The Red Sox entered September 2007 with a relatively comfortable five-game lead in the AL East Division. They had held first place in the division since April 18. The visiting Orioles were 20 games back but had beaten the Red Sox the night before, 9-8, after seeing a 9-3 lead nearly evaporate. After Boston scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run on second with one out, a double play gave the O’s the win. A week and a half earlier, on August 22, Baltimore had made unwanted headlines in a 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, the first time an AL or NL team had allowed 30 runs in a game since the nineteenth century.6

On Saturday night, aiming to snap a four-game losing streak, Francona started Buchholz. Dave Trembley, who had taken over the reins for the Orioles in mid-June, started 23-year-old Garrett Olson (1-2), a left-hander who was a newcomer as well, pitching in just his sixth major-league game.

Buchholz hit right fielder Nick Markakis with a pitch in the first inning and Olson walked DH David Ortiz. Neither pitcher allowed a base hit.

The Red Sox scored once in the bottom of the second. First baseman Kevin Youkilis walked leading off. With one out, right fielder Bobby Kielty singled up the middle and Youkilis went first to third. He scored when the Orioles were unable to turn an around-the-horn double play on speedy center fielder Coco Crisp’s grounder to third baseman Scott Moore.

Buchholz retired Baltimore in order in the second, third, and fourth innings. The closest the O’s came to a hit was center fielder Corey Patterson’s groundout to open the fourth, fielded by Youkilis and thrown to Buchholz covering first.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox scored three more runs when Ortiz followed three consecutive singles – a line drive that skittered by second baseman Brian Roberts, a bunt toward third, and an infield single – with a double off the wall in left-center. It was a 4-0 game.

Buchholz began to dig himself a hole by walking the two first batters he faced in the top of the fifth – Orioles DH Kevin Millar and first baseman Aubrey Huff – but he struck out Moore and then got outs on a 6-4 force play and a fly ball to right field. It was a 23-pitch inning. On Boston’s NESN-TV, commentator Jerry Remy said, “If he keeps his changeup down, it is just about unhittable.”7

Baltimore’s Roberts walked to lead off the sixth, but Buchholz picked him off first. Patterson flied out deep to Crisp, and Markakis struck out. The crowd reaction after Crisp routinely caught Patterson’s ball for the second out prompted broadcaster Remy to say, “Fans are aware of what’s going on … even though it’s early.”8

The Red Sox doubled their lead to 8-0 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. After Olson struck out left fielder Moss to get the first out, he was relieved by right-hander Rocky Cherry. Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo doubled down the line, into the left-field corner. Lugo took third on second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s groundout back to Cherry. Ortiz reached on an eight-pitch walk.

Third baseman Mike Lowell doubled off the wall in left, just fair by a foot, scoring Lugo and pushing Ortiz to third. Youkilis homered into the first row of the Green Monster seats, a three-run homer, his 15th of the season. Brian Burres replaced Cherry and got catcher Jason Varitek to pop up to third for the final out.

With two pitching changes, and all the offense, the Red Sox had spent a lot of time at bat. Broadcaster Don Orsillo noted that they’d kept Buchholz waiting in the dugout for 22 minutes in the fourth inning, 15 in the fifth, and 26 minutes in the sixth. Those watching television saw a graphic noting that Buchholz had yet to allow a hit through the first six.9

In the top of the seventh, the ball didn’t leave the infield. Pedroia, headed for AL Rookie of the Year honors, made the defensive play of the game, taking several steps to his right on a ball hit up the middle, diving, snaring the ball while falling, scrambling up, and firing to first base to get Miguel Tejada.10 Buchholz then got a strikeout and a foul popup to first base.11

Through seven innings, Buchholz had thrown 92 pitches. The most he had thrown in any game in 2007, in the majors or minors, was 98. There were still two innings to go. “It could be an historic night tonight at Fenway Park,” said Orsillo. Referring to the Red Sox catcher, Remy said, “Varitek has called a brilliant game behind the plate tonight. I mean, you know that he’s not shaking Jason off for anything – the rookie coming up.”12

In the eighth, Buchholz got a fly ball out to right-center, struck out Baltimore catcher J.R. House on three pitches, and on the first pitch he threw to left fielder Jay Payton was rewarded with a high hopper right back to himself. Buchholz threw to first base for the third out. It was a 10-pitch inning, putting him at 102.

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and scouting director Jason McLeod were in the GM’s box “fretting” about the pitch count. Epstein said after the game, “He never threw more than 98 in his life and we couldn’t let him throw 20 more pitches than he had ever thrown. Tito would have had to take him out and blame me. He couldn’t go more than 120. We’re talking about a career here.”13

The Red Sox added their 9th and 10th runs in the bottom of the eighth. Pedroia led off with a single. Ortiz flied out to right. Two more singles followed, both to left, by Lowell and Youkilis. Varitek struck out. Ellsbury, who had come in to play left field (Moss moving to right and Kielty departing at the top of the inning, hit a two-run double off the National League scoreboard in left-center. Crisp flied out.

As the Red Sox took the field in the top of the ninth, hoping to help Buchholz close out his no-hitter, NESN chose not to take a commercial break. The 36,819 in attendance were keyed up as well.14 

Buchholz struck out Roberts, swinging, on five pitches.15 Patterson lined out to center. And then on a 1-and-2 pitch to Markakis, Buchholz dropped in a curveball for a called third strike.

For the first time in history, a Red Sox rookie had thrown a no-hitter.16

Buchholz said, “This is what you dream about growing up, and just being in the big leagues and all. You dream about perfect games and no-hitters and stuff like that. It’s unreal. … I don’t even have a word for it. You’d think we won a World Series or something, but it was an incredible moment in my life and one that I’ll never forget.”17

It was the third no-hitter Jason Varitek had called in 11 seasons with the Red Sox. He had caught Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter against the Orioles in 2001 and Derek Lowe’s against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2002. In 2008 he caught Jon Lester against the Kansas City Royals for a fourth no-hitter. As of 2024, Varitek and Carlos Ruiz – who caught four no-hitters for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2010 through 2015 – were tied among AL and NL catchers for most career no-hitters.18

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a video of the NESN broadcast of the game available on YouTube. Thanks for assistance to Malcolm Allen and John Eisenberg.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200709010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B09010BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtwuJKGres

Photo credit: Clay Buchholz, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Dan Shaughnessy, “Rookie Pitches to Glory,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: A1, C9.

2 Buchholz was selected with the 42nd overall pick, which the Red Sox had received as compensation when Pedro Martínez signed with the New York Mets as a free agent in December 2004.

3 Shaughnessy.

4 Pitcher Tim Wakefield had a sore back and needed to miss the Friday night start; Julián Tavárez started in his stead. A couple of Boston’s outfielders – Manny Ramírez and J.D. Drew – benefited from time to heal. Also called up were pitchers Craig Breslow and Bryan Corey and shortstop Royce Clayton. Moss had been named MVP of the 2007 PawSox.

5 Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds debuted by no-hitting the visiting Pittsburghs, 7-1, on October 15, 1892 – the final game of the season. The one run scored on a walk and Jones’s subsequent throwing error. On August 11, 1991, Wilson Álvarez of the Chicago White Sox no-hit the Orioles when visiting Memorial Stadium in his second career start.

6 Manny Randhawa, “Teams to Score 20 or More Runs in a Game,” MLB.com, June 24, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/most-runs-scored-in-an-mlb-game.

7 Boston Red Sox television broadcast (NESN-TV), “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston,” YouTube video (BrunoSox23), 3:16:26, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtwuJKGres. Accessed August 2, 2024.

8 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.”

9 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.” The graphic informed viewers that the last rookie to throw six hitless innings had been Aaron Sele on August 28, 1993. In the seventh, Sele yielded a couple of hits. By game’s end it was five hits, but he got a 2-1 win over Kansas City. Buchholz said after the game that he had gone into the batting cage behind the Boston dugout “to throw to get my mind off” what was unfolding. See Gordon Edes, “Second to None,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: C1, C12.

10 “That was the turn of the game for me,” Buchholz told NESN’s Tina Cervasio in a postgame on-field interview. Jerry Remy had already praised the play several times. “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.” “I thought there was no chance,” said Crisp. “The ball was hit up the middle, it looked like it was coming to me.” Frank Dell’Apa, “Performance Is a Hit with Teammates,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: C12. Tejada said, “To me, that was the best play they made the whole night,” and Buchholz said it was “one of the best plays that I’ve ever seen in 10 years anywhere.” Jeff Zrebiec, “Rookie No-Hits Reeling O’s,” Baltimore Sun, September 2, 2007: D1.

11 Observing one of baseball’s taboos, the telecasters said things such as noting that fans were “seeing something special tonight” and, at the end of seven, “It’s all zeroes across the board for the Orioles.” Joe Castiglione was equally careful on radio, according to Gordon Edes. As the Red Sox batted in the bottom of the seventh, the camera showed Buchholz seated in the dugout all by himself. “I didn’t go anywhere near him,” said manager Francona. “Neither did anybody else.” The TV camera then panned to the scoreboard, with a closeup showing no runs, no hits, no errors for Baltimore as the broadcaster said, “We’ll show you what’s going on here tonight.” Edes.

12 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.”

13 Dell’Apa.

14 One not in attendance was the author of this article, who otherwise would have had a streak of seeing every Red Sox home no-hitter from Dave Morehead in September 1965 through the 2023 season. Out for dinner with family and a couple of friends, he watched the final inning on a television at Cambridge’s Summer Shack restaurant.  

15 Jerry Remy twice noted that the Red Sox infielders were playing fairly deep. “Do not bunt,” he said a couple of times during the top of the ninth, reflecting another of baseball’s unwritten customs. 

16 Billy Rohr had come as close as one could get on April 14, 1967, throwing 8 2/3 innings of no-hit ball against the New York Yankees before losing the bid to an otherwise-unremarkable single to Elston Howard. Rohr won the game, 3-0, a one-hitter in his big-league debut.

17 Zrebiec. The Red Sox did, in fact, win the World Series before the end of October, sweeping the Colorado Rockies in four games. Buchholz spent 10 seasons in Boston, winning 81 games and making two AL All-Star teams. He won 17 games and finished second in the AL with a 2.33 ERA in 2010 and had a 12-1 record for Boston’s 2013 World Series champions. Buchholz also pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays in his 13-season career.

18 Sarah Langs, “Catchers With the Most No-Hitters,” MLB.com, August 1, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/catchers-with-the-most-no-hitters. Ruiz caught Roy Halladay’s perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May 2010, Halladay’s no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Division Series in October 2010, a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in September 2014, and Cole Hamels’ no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in July 2015.

From their 13th game of the season, on April 18, the Red Sox had held sole possession of first place in the AL East. Near the end of May and again in early July, they had led by as many as 11½ games before finishing just two games ahead of the Yankees.

Though they had a much tighter race all season long, the Angels had been in first place since April 24. They finished with a bit more breathing room, six games ahead of the second-place Seattle Mariners.

Had they perhaps clinched too early, back on September 23, six days before the Red Sox?

The Angels and Red Sox had faced each other 10 times during the season, with Boston winning six of the 10.

Both managers had World Series championships on their résumés, the Angels’ Mike Scioscia in 2002 and Boston’s Terry Francona in 2004.

Francona started Josh Beckett in Game One, played at Fenway Park on the evening of Wednesday, October 3. The 27-year-old right-hander had led the majors with 20 wins, going 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA. He’d struck out 194 batters and walked 40. He went on to finish second in the AL Cy Young Award voting to Cleveland’s CC Sabathia.

Beckett’s last postseason start had been for the Florida Marlins in Game Six of the 2003 World Series. He had shut out the Yankees on five hits to secure the championship for the Marlins – who had taken him second overall in the June 1999 amateur draft – and won his own World Series MVP Award. Both Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell had come to the Red Sox in an eight-player trade in November 2005.2

Scioscia’s starter, right-hander John Lackey, had led the AL with a 3.01 ERA and had been 19-9 with 179 K’s and 52 walks. Like Beckett, he was a first-time All-Star in 2007. Lackey, lifetime, was 1-4 at Fenway (with a 7.46 ERA) and he’d lost both decisions in 2007.3

The first batter of the game was Angels right fielder Chone Figgins, who came into the postseason without a base hit in his last 22 at-bats.4 He reached on a single off the glove of rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia, appearing in the first of 51 career postseason games with the Red Sox.5 Shortstop Orlando Cabrera – a member of Boston’s 2004 World Series champions – grounded out, Figgins taking second. The DH, Vladimir Guerrero, grounded out, Figgins taking third. Beckett struck out left fielder Garret Anderson on three pitches.6 No Angel reached third base for the rest of the game.

First up for Boston was Pedroia. He grounded out to third. First baseman Kevin Youkilis homered into the second row of seats atop the wall in left-center. It was his first postseason hit, coming in his second postseason game.7 The next two batters reached as well – DH David Ortiz and left fielder Manny Ramírez, both on singles. But Lackey kept it a 1-0 game by getting Lowell to pop up foul to third base, and J.D. Drew, the right fielder, to ground out.

All three Red Sox with first-inning hits had missed time with late-season injuries. Youkilis had been hit on the wrist and missed seven September games, Ortiz had received a cortisone shot for a sore knee, and Ramírez (strained left oblique) had missed 24 games in the final five weeks.

Beckett set the Angels down in order in the second inning. For the Red Sox, catcher Jason Varitek singled but was erased on a double play, and shortstop Julio Lugo singled but was caught stealing.

Beckett had another one-two-three inning in the top of the third. After one out in the bottom of the inning, Youkilis doubled over third base and into the left-field corner. Ortiz followed with a two-run homer well past the Pesky Pole8 in right, his ninth career postseason homer.

Ramírez drew a walk, then took second on a wild pitch while Lowell was batting. Three pitches later, Lowell – who had led the Red Sox with 120 RBIs – looped a single into center field and the Red Sox had a 4-0 lead. Drew hit into a 4-6-3 double play. The Los Angeles Times’s Bill Plaschke dubbed the Angels pitcher “John Lacking.”9

There was no more scoring by either side. Beckett set the Angels down in order once more in the fourth. Lackey did the same to the Red Sox.

In the Angels’ fifth inning, as in the fourth, not a ball was hit to the outfield and it was three up, three down. Ortiz worked a two-out walk for the Red Sox, but was the only one to reach base.

Beckett faced catcher Mike Napoli and center fielder Reggie Willits in the sixth inning, threw six pitches, and struck both out swinging.10 He needed only two more pitches to get Figgins to line out to center. Drew hit a one-out infield single off Lackey’s glove in the bottom of the inning, but first baseman Casey Kotchman turned Varitek’s grounder into a 3-6-1 double play.

Cabrera’s groundout to open the seventh made it 19 consecutive batters retired by Beckett since Figgins’ leadoff hit in the first. Guerrero broke the streak with a one-out single to left. Beckett didn’t let this second hit throw him off his stride; he got Anderson to pop up to Lowell at third and third baseman Maicer Izturis to hit into a force play at second.

Ervin Santana relieved Lackey in the bottom of the seventh. He got center fielder Coco Crisp to pop up foul to third and struck out Lugo and Pedroia. 

Kotchman grounded to Beckett’s first pitch of the eighth to Youkilis, who threw to Beckett covering the bag for the out. Second baseman Howie Kendrick singled to left. Pinch-hitter Erick Aybar, batting for Napoli, hit into a force play at second base. Kendrys Morales then pinch-hit for Willits. He struck out.

Santana retired the three Red Sox batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth. Two outfield flies and then the fourth foul popup of the game to third base – the third hit by a Boston batter – sent the game to the ninth.

Beckett had thrown 101 pitches. He had allowed just three hits, walked no one, and struck out eight. Seven more pitches and the game was over. Figgins lined to left. First-pitch swinging, Cabrera grounded out, third to first. Guerrero singled to center, but Anderson swung at the first pitch and flied out to center. In the end, it was a four-hit shutout for Beckett and not one of the hits was for extra bases.  

Combined with his Game Six win in the 2003 World Series, Beckett had thrown back-to-back postseason shutouts, allowing nine hits over the course of 18 innings.

According to Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe, it was Boston’s “most dominating performance in a series opener since El Tiante shut out the Cincinnati Reds, 6-0, in Game 1 of the 1975 World Series.”11  

Beckett had been helped by the defense, too. Bob Ryan of the Globe noted two plays in particular – Lowell robbing Napoli of a hit in the third “with a diving stop to his left” and Crisp with “his 32nd? 57th? 79th? four-star play of the year, taking a hit away from Figgins with a sliding grab of a sinking liner in the sixth.”12

But it really came down to Beckett.

Scioscia stated the obvious: “Beckett was about as good as we’ve seen him. I don’t think you’re going to be able to pitch a much better game than that.”13 Of the 108 pitches Beckett had thrown, 83 were for strikes.

One postmortem from Los Angeles said, “The Angels offense looks stale, stagnant … while they rested many regulars over the final week of the season, their bats went into hibernation. They hit .206 and scored 10 runs in their final five games, going two for 22 with runners in scoring position.”14

Game Two was on Friday night at Fenway Park, Daisuke Matsuzaka for the Red Sox against Kelvim Escobar for the Angels. Boston’s bullpen was fully rested and ready.15

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and video of the game at YouTube.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200710030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B10030BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVSjS64KTvM

Notes

1 The Indians had an identical record to that of the Red Sox, but Boston had won five of the seven games between the two teams. Cleveland took three of four games from the Yankees in the Division Series and played the Red Sox in the ALCS.

2 The most notable players who went to the Marlins were Hanley Ramírez and Anibal Sanchez. Bob Ryan, “Stocked Exchange,” Boston Globe, October 3, 2007: D6.

3 Lackey was 1-6 with a 6.27 earned-run average in 11 career starts against the Red Sox. (Lackey later spent four full seasons and part of another with the Red Sox.)

4 Figgins, normally a third baseman, played right field because Vladimir Guerrero’s sore elbow did not permit him to make the throws that he could be called upon to make.

5 As of 2025, Pedroia ranked third in Red Sox history in postseason games, trailing only David Ortiz and Jason Varitek.

6 Anderson had come on strong in the second half of the season, with 65 RBIs in 68 games after the All-Star break, including 10 RBIs in the August 21 game against the Yankees. He was, though, playing with a virus-infected right eye that Bill Plaschke wrote “was nearly swollen shut.” Bill Plaschke, “Lackey Should Be Careful What He Asks For … He Just Got It,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2007: D1.

7 Youkilis came into the playoff with an errorless streak playing first base that had reached 190 consecutive games, already a league record. His streak ran to 238 games, until June 7, 2008.

8 The Pesky Pole was the name given to the right-field foul pole in honor of Red Sox infielder Johnny Pesky, who actually didn’t hit many home runs near the pole.

9 Bill Plaschke, “Lackey Should Be Careful What He Asks For … He Just Got It.” What had he asked for? To pitch against Josh Beckett.

10 Willits played center field in the ALDS because Gary Matthews Jr., whose 72 RBIs ranked fourth on the Angels, was out with painful patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Mike DiGiovanni, “Injured Matthews Left Off Roster,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2007: D10. Left off the Red Sox roster, with a bad back, was starting pitcher Tim Wakefield, whose 17 regular-season wins ranked second on the ballclub. See Gordon Edes, “Back Issues Keep Wakefield Off Roster,” Boston Globe, October 3,2007: D8.

11 Gordon Edes, “Complete Control,” Boston Globe, October 4, 2007: E1.

12 Bob Ryan, “Ace’s Stuff Fit for the Kings,” Boston Globe, October 4, 2007: E1.

13 Jack Curry, “Beckett Makes an Opening Statement,” New York Times, October 4, 2007: D1.

14 Mike DiGiovanna, “Ace in the Face,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2007: D1.

15 The Red Sox went on to sweep the Angels in three games. They beat the Indians in a seven-game AL Championship Series, then swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

With the first six, he struck out leadoff batter Chone Figgins. Orlando Cabrera made him throw eight pitches and worked a walk. Vladimir Guerrero, recovered from tendinitis enough to play right field again, fouled out to first base on the sixth pitch. Garret Anderson singled to right field and Cabrera ran to third, but on the seventh pitch he saw, Maicer Izturis struck out.

In his first season in American baseball, “Dice-K” had gone 15-12, with an ERA of 4.40 but a team-leading 201 strikeouts. He did have eight seasons of Japanese Pacific League baseball experience, though, all with the Seibu Lions. Over his last six starts of the regular season, he had surrendered almost exactly five earned runs per game. He had survived his first inning of postseason play without giving up a run.

Matsuzaka’s teammates got him two runs in the bottom of the first. Kelvim Escobar was the Angels’ starter, and his 11th big-league season was arguably his best one yet – he had been 18-7 with a 3.40 ERA. He had worked relief in six postseason games for the 2005 Angels, with a 1.59 ERA. He’d won seven of his last eight decisions in 2007.

Escobar walked Kevin Youkilis with one out and allowed David Ortiz’s single to left. After Manny Ramírez flied out to center, Mike Lowell walked and the bases were loaded. Right fielder J.D. Drew – as the Boston Globe noted, “statistically … Boston’s worst hitter with the bases loaded this season (2-for-17, .118”1 – singled over Escobar and up the middle and drove in two runs, Ortiz motoring around third and to the plate. On Escobar’s 30th pitch of the inning, Jason Varitek lined out to second.

Staked to a 2-0 lead, Matsuzaka saw it evaporate in the top of the second. Casey Kotchman walked and DH Kendrys Morales singled off the glove of a diving second baseman Dustin Pedroia, Kotchman going first to third.2 Howie Kendrick struck out on three pitches, but catcher Jeff Mathis’s one-hopper to third scored Kotchman. Figgins then slapped a ball into left that got by Ramírez with a “wacky bounce,” driving in Morales.3 It was scored a double. Cabrera then doubled to left-center, the ball striking the warning track just at the base of the wall, driving in Figgins. It was 3-2, Angels.

The Red Sox went down quietly in the second with both Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo striking out, and Pedroia swinging at the first pitch and grounding out to short.

Both teams had mild scoring opportunities during the next few innings but failed to change the scoreboard. Anderson led off the third with a double to right but was cut down trying to take third on Izturis’s grounder to Lugo at short. While Kotchman was batting, Izturis stole second, then took took third on Kotchman’s groundout to Lugo. Morales flied out to right. In Boston’s half, Ortiz walked on four pitches between strikeouts of Youkilis and Ramírez. Lowell then grounded out.

Kendrick led off the fourth with a single, the third inning in a row the Angels saw the leadoff batter get on base, but Mathis popped up foul to Varitek and Figgins and Cabrera grounded out. With two outs for the Red Sox, Crisp bunted for a single and stole second before Lugo struck out.

Matsuzaka retired the first two Angels in the fifth, but Izturis singled (when Matsuzaka failed to cover first base) and then stole second. With the count full on Kotchman, Matsuzaka’s 96th pitch of the game was a wild pitch, putting Angels on the corners. Manager Terry Francona called on right-hander Javier Lopez against Morales – a switch-hitter whose OPS was 300 points higher against right-handers than lefties – and Morales hit into a force play at second.

In their half of the fifth, the Red Sox tied the game, 3-3. Pedroia doubled down the line in left and into the corner. He went to third on Youkilis’s groundout to Escobar. Ortiz was walked intentionally, and Ramírez walked on seven pitches.4 Lowell swung at the first pitch and hit a fly ball to fairly deep center. Pedroia was able to tag and score. Drew grounded out to first, but the game was tied.

It turned into a battle of the bullpens. Manny Delcarmen took over for Boston and set down the Angels in order in the sixth. Los Angeles’ Scot Shields struck out Varitek, walked Crisp, and then saw Lugo out on a fly ball to center, with Crisp thrown out because he neglected to retouch second base on his way back to first, a double play.

After hitting Guerrero with one out in the seventh, Delcarmen departed and Hideki Okajima took over. Anderson lined out and Izturis struck out. The Red Sox got a pair of two-out walks as Shields was perhaps pitching too carefully to Ortiz and Ramírez. But Lowell flied out to center.

The top of the eighth offered a lot of adventure after Jonathan Papelbon relieved Okajima with two outs and nobody on base. Kendrick grounded Papelbon’s first pitch to Lowell at third and reached safely on an errant throw. Mathis came up to bat and, on the second pitch, Kendrick stole second.

With a runner in scoring position, Angels manager Mike Scioscia had Juan Rivera pinch-hit for Mathis. On the third pitch to Rivera, Kendrick stole third base. Two pitches later, Rivera walked, and Reggie Willits ran for him. On Papelbon’s second pitch to Figgins, Willits stole second base. It was the third stolen base of the inning and there was still not a run. Figgins took a called third strike and the inning was over. All told, the Angels had been 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Justin Speier relieved Shields in the bottom of the eighth and got two grounders to second and a fly ball to right.

The game remained 3-3 heading into the ninth inning. The Angels were hoping to win and head back to Anaheim with a win apiece; they had the best home record in the majors, 54-27. 

As it happened, Papelbon secured all three outs on popups to shortstop Lugo, one in shallow center, the second one to the edge of the outfield grass just a bit to the right side of second base, and the third into shallow left field. There was a walk mixed in, but nothing came of it.

Bottom of the ninth. Lugo, perhaps energized by catching all those popups, swung at the first pitch and singled to left – the first hit off the Angels bullpen. Pedroia grounded out, short to first, Lugo going to second base. Francisco Rodriguez relieved Shields, struck out Youkilis, then pitched to David Ortiz. The situation was arguably ripe for another “Big Papi” moment, but Scioscia didn’t want that and had Ortiz walked intentionally – his fourth consecutive walk in the game.5

Manny Ramírez came to bat. Due to an oblique strain, he had not been in a game from August 28 to September 25, though in the six regular-season games he’d played in at the end of the season, he’d been 7-for-18. And he had 20 postseason home runs to his credit. He’d been 1-for-3 in Game One. 

On the second pitch, Ramírez launched a high arcing drive well over everything in left field, completely out of the park and onto Lansdowne Street beyond, giving the Red Sox a 6-3 walkoff win at 12:44 A.M.6 It was the first walk-off home run he had hit for the Red Sox, after seven years with the team.7

Mike Lowell said, “He actually told me in the ninth before everything happened, ‘I’m going to end this.’”8

For the Red Sox, it was their ninth postseason walk-off hit in franchise history.9

Lugo’s hit had been Boston batters’ first since Pedroia’s leadoff double in the fifth. The Red Sox bullpen – which hadn’t seen any work at all since September 30 – had thrown the final 4 1/3 innings of the game without giving up even one base hit. Pitching coach John Farrell had to have been pleased.

Speier suffered the loss. Papelbon got the win. The two teams headed west to play Game Three on Sunday, October 7. Curt Schilling was not at Fenway Park to celebrate; he had already flown west to be better rested for Game Three.

The Angels had lost eight consecutive postseason games to the Red Sox, dating back to 1986. Some of these same Angels had seen David Ortiz hit the walk-off home run that eliminated the Angels in the 2004 ALDS.10

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Manny Ramírez, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and video excerpts of the game on YouTube.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200710050.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B10050BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvvDH1GcAE

Notes

1 Gordon Edes, “Manny of the Hour,” Boston Globe, October 6, 2007: D7.

2 It looked as though Pedroia might have injured his shoulder, but the trainer gave him the green light and he continued.

3 Edes, “Manny of the Hour.”

4 There was more to the story than just a walk, though. A foul ball Ramírez hit to the photographer’s pit next to the Red Sox dugout was one that catcher Mathis would have caught … except that 17-year-old Danny Vinik reached over Mathis’s glove and made the catch himself, preventing the Angels from making the third out. Vinik’s father, Jeff, was a limited partner in the Red Sox. Because the ball was outside the field of play, there was no problem. It was “[m]aybe the Red Sox’s best play of the night. Because without it maybe the Angels take a lead into the ninth.” Kevin Baxter, “Red Sox Hero Is 17-Year-Old Fan in the Stands,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2007: D6.

5 After the game, Scioscia said, “In that situation, you pick your poison.” Jack Curry, “Walking Ortiz, Angels Allow Ramírez to Play the Hero,” New York Times, October 6, 2007: D2.

6 Angels catcher Mike Napoli said the pitch was supposed to be a fastball “down and away, and it went up and in.” Rodriguez said, “I can’t really say what it was, but obviously it wasn’t a good pitch.” Mike DiGiovanna, “Monster Mashed,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2007: D1.

7 It was the 21st postseason home run of Ramirez’s career, leaving him one behind Bernie Williams. He tied Williams with another home run in Game Three of the 2007 ALDS, and didn’t stop – retiring with 29 postseason home runs.

8 Gordon Edes, “Sox Flying High Long after Ramírez HR,” Boston Globe, October 7, 2007: C1. In second place through the 2025 season is Houston’s Jose Altuve.

9 The previous playoff walk-off wins were:

• Game Eight, 1912 World Series (Larry Gardner sacrifice fly)
• Game Three, 1915 World Series (Duffy Lewis single)
• Game Two, 1916 World Series (Del Gainer single)
• Game Six, 1975 World Series (Carlton Fisk home run)
• Game Three, 2003 ALDS (Trot Nixon home run)
• Game Three, 2004 ALDS (David Ortiz home run)
• Game Four, 2004 ALCS (David Ortiz home run)
• Game Five, 2004 ALCS (David Ortiz single)

10 The Red Sox secured the series sweep with a 9-1 win over the Angels in Game Three. They beat the Cleveland Indians in seven games in the AL Championship Series, then swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

Starting for Terry Francona and the Red Sox in the opener at Fenway Park was Josh Beckett, 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA. The 27-year-old right-hander had shut out the Angels in a Game One ALDS four-hitter. In 2003 he had helped the Florida Marlins to a World Series win with two postseason shutouts: a two-hitter in Game Five of the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs and the clinching Game Six of the World Series against the Yankees, a five-hitter that netted him the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

Cleveland manager Eric Wedge’s starter was left-hander CC Sabathia (19-7, 3.21 ERA). A three-time All-Star, the 27-year-old Sabathia went on to receive the AL Cy Young Award in 2007. He had won Game One of the Division Series against the Yankees, 12-3. Against Boston earlier in the year, he had lost a 1-0 game on July 24.3 Of particular concern was Manny Ramírez, who had been with the Indians from 1993 through 2000, but with Boston since.4 He came into the game hitting Sabathia at .571 (12-for-21) with three doubles and four home runs.

The two teams seemed pretty evenly matched when taking into account, offense, starting pitching, the bullpens, and the backup players. Apparently wagering odds somewhat favored the Red Sox.5

Any thought of another postseason shutout for Beckett was gone in the first inning. He struck out the first two batters – Grady Sizemore and 21-year-old rookie second baseman Asdrúbal Cabrera – but DH Travis Hafner homered just over the visitors’ bullpen in right field, and the Indians had a quick 1-0 lead.

Dustin Pedroia led off for Boston, lining out – hard – directly back to Sabathia, but the next three Red Sox all singled to center field: Kevin Youkilis (past shortstop), David Ortiz (just to the right of second), and (to the left of the shortstop, earning a run batted in) Manny Ramírez. Mike Lowell hit into an inning-ending double play, but the game was tied.6

Neither side got a man on in the second; Sabathia struck out all three batters he faced.

Beckett struck out two of the three batters he faced in the third. Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo led off the bottom of the inning with a ground-rule double into the right-field corner. As runs were expected to be at a premium, Pedroia sacrificed Lugo to third. Youkilis walked on four pitches. Ortiz was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Ramírez walked, forcing in the go-ahead run.

Lowell hit a ground-rule double, driving in two more as it bounced off the warning track, then the tip of Franklin Gutierrez’s glove, into the seats near the right-field corner. With still just one out, right fielder Bobby Kielty was walked intentionally. Jason Varitek grounded to third base, and Casey Blake took the out at first as another run scored for a 5-1 Boston lead.

Neither side got a man on base in the fourth. In the fifth, Beckett hit first baseman Ryan Garko, but on the next pitch Jhonny Peralta hit into a double play. A two-base hit by Kenny Lofton followed, but then Beckett struck out Gutierrez.

The Red Sox added three more runs in their half of the inning. Ortiz walked. Ramírez singled to center. Lowell walked, loading the bases. After two balls to Kielty, Sabathia had to put one over the plate and Kielty singled to right, driving in two runs. Lowell was tagged out close to third base, though, while Kielty took advantage of the throw to move up to second.

After the game, manager Wedge stated the obvious: “This was not C.C.’s night.”7 He paused and added, “He never really got in synch.”8 Jensen Lewis relieved Sabathia. Kielty scored on Varitek’s double to right-center, making it 8-1.

The Indians scored once in the sixth inning on a leadoff double by Blake and a one-out single by Cabrera. The Red Sox lead had been cut to 8-2. They bumped up their lead by adding two more runs right away. Both Pedroia and Youkilis singled to right. Aaron Fultz relieved Lewis. He pitched to two batters – Ortiz and Ramírez, never an enviable task – and he walked them both. The walk to Ramírez forced in a run, his second RBI of the game earned by a base on balls.9 Tom Mastny relieved Fultz, and Lowell’s sacrifice fly to center produced yet another run.

With a 10-2 lead, Mike Timlin relieved Beckett in the seventh.10 It was a cold evening. The Red Sox starter had left after 80 pitches, observed the Boston Globe, “of his own volition … one that could prove fortuitous if the Sox need him to pitch on short rest in Game 4.”11 The only runner to reach was Garko on a leadoff single. Mastny gave up a leadoff double to Coco Crisp in the bottom of the seventh, but no other Red Sox reached.

In the eighth, Blake again led off an inning with a double, this time against new Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez. Blake tagged and went to third on a fly ball to right by Sizemore, then tagged and scored on Cabrera’s fly ball to left. Boston led 10-3.

Against Joe Borowski, Ortiz doubled to lead off the eighth, and Ramírez drew another walk, but Borowski then retired the next three Red Sox. Between the two of them – Ortiz and Ramírez – they had 10 plate appearances and got on base every one of the 10 times. Three times the sluggers had walked after starting the plate appearance with a 0-and-2 count.12 The 35-year-old Ramírez even got credit for stellar defensive play in left field.13

Eric Gagne finished up for the Red Sox. He gave up a one-out single to Peralta and a double to Lofton and, with two outs, a walk to Blake that loaded the bases. But he struck out Sizemore for the third out and the game was over.14

Sabathia’s “terrible performance” amped up the pressure on Cleveland’s Game Two starter, Fausto Carmona.15  

After the game, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote something no living Red Sox fan had likely ever envisioned before the franchise snapped its 86-year World Series championship drought in 2004: the team as “favorites to win the World Series … a sense of inevitability about their 2007 playoff march.”16

There were, though, more games to play. In yet another self-evident assessment, Kenny Lofton said, “It’s just one game. This is a seven-game series. Somebody had to lose Game 1.”17

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Madison McEntire and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a video of the game at YouTube.com. Thanks to Joe Wancho for supplying Cleveland newspaper accounts. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200710120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B10120BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1yIw0um3w

Photo credit: Manny Ramírez, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 There was some playoff history between the two teams. Back in 1948, Cleveland had won a single-game playoff at Fenway Park for the American League pennant. In that year, they beat Boston’s other team, the National League Braves, in a six-game World Series. The Indians had swept the 1995 Division Series from the Red Sox. In 1998, they beat the Red Sox in the ALDS, three games to one. The following year – 1999 – the Red Sox turned the tables, winning the ALDS, three games to two, but lost to the Yankees in the ALCS.

2 Both Game One and Game Four were unfortunate losses by overmatched starter Chien-Ming Wang, who – despite leading the Yankees for two years in a row with 19 wins and with the best ERA among the starters in 2007 – wound up throwing a total of 5⅔ innings with an ERA of 19.06.

3 Daisuke Matsuzaka won that game for the Red Sox. The very next day, Cleveland’s Roberto Hernandez went the first eight innings as the Indians beat the Red Sox, 1-0.

4 Indeed, as Cleveland reporter Bill Lubinger pointed out, “Boston’s scorecard lists former Indians Manny Ramírez, Coco Crisp, Alex Cora and pitching coach John Farrell, who still lives here. Indians Trot Nixon, Kelly Shoppach and manager Eric Wedge once played for the other guys.” Bill Lubinger, “A Shared Faith in Curses, Failures,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 12, 2007: D1.

5 John Powers, “Sox Happily Shed the Underdog Label,” Boston Globe, October 1, 2007: A1. The bullpen was arguably where the Red Sox were strongest. See Nick Cafardo, “In the End, Sox’ Pen Is Mightier,” Boston Globe, October 12, 2007: C9.

6 Pedroia’s leadoff liner “almost knocked Sabathia’s hat straight,” quipped Cleveland columnist Bud Shaw. See “Indians Missing One of Two Aces Up Their Sleeve,” Clevland Plain Dealer, October 13, 2007: D1.

7 Paul Hoynes, “Behind 8 Ball C.C. Allows Boston 8 Runs in 4⅓ Innings,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 13, 2007: D1. “I don’t think it’s fatigue,” said Wedge. “He’s strong, really strong. I think sometimes C.C.’s heart gets in the way. He tries to do too much.”

8 Jim McCabe, “Shaky Sabathia Was Out of Control,” Boston Globe, October 13, 2007: D4. Before this game, Sabathia had walked 11 batters in 9⅓ postseason innings, in direct contrast to walking only 37 in a majors-leading 241 regular-season innings of work. Beckett had not walked anyone.

9 The two bases on balls issued by Fultz were the sum total of his work in the ALCS.

10 For an appreciation of Beckett’s work, see Jackie MacMullan, “Big-Game Beckett Strikes Again,” Boston Globe, October 13, 2007: D1.

11 Gordon Edes, “Onslaught: On and On It Goes; Ortiz and Ramírez Lead Red Sox Rout,” Boston Globe, October 13, 2007: D1.

12 Nick Cafardo, “Ortiz, Ramírez Reach Back for Extra,” Boston Globe, October 13, 2007: D2. Mike Lowell marveled, “I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re aggressive, they’re patient, they’re picking their spots. … It’s really special, going up against a pitcher like C.C., to get on every time is unbelievable.”   

13 Amalie Benjamin, “Slugger Also Made Sure to Have Field Day in Left,” Boston Globe, October 13, 2007: D2.

14 Gagne had struck out three opponents in the ninth, just as Beckett had in the first. In both innings, though, other Indians reached base.

15 Terry Pluto, “Carmona’s Job Just Got Harder,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 13, 2007: D13. Later in his career, Carmona was known as Roberto Hernández.

16 Dan Shaughnessy, “Sox Put a Chill on Indians in Opener,” Boston Globe, October 1, 2007: 1. And this from the author of The Curse of the Bambino (New York: Dutton, 1990).

17 Hoynes. The Indians won the next three games of the series to take a three-games-to-one lead, but the Red Sox won the final three, outscoring Cleveland 30-5, to reach the World Series, where they swept the Colorado Rockies in four games for the seventh World Series title in franchise history.

The starters for Game Two on October 13 at Fenway Park were Curt Schilling for the Red Sox and Roberto Hernández – then known as Fausto Carmona – for the Indians. The 40-year-old Schilling came into the game with the best career won-lost record in major-league postseason history (9-2). Though he had ended the season at just 9-8 with a lackluster 3.87 ERA, he had thrown seven shutout innings in Game Three of the Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Indians manager Eric Wedge’s starter was Hernández, who went by Carmona until after the 2011 season.1 The 27-year-old native of the Dominican Republic was 19-8 with an ERA of 3.08 in his second season in the majors. It turned out to be, by far, his best year in a big-league career that took him into the 2016 season. His work in 2007 had been quite a turnaround after he went 1-10 in 2006, with a 5.42 ERA.

Neither pitcher made it through five innings.

Grady Sizemore led off for Cleveland. After a 0-for-5, three-strikeout night in Game One, he doubled to center. Schilling got outs from the next two batters, but catcher Victor Martínez then doubled off the left-field wall, driving in Sizemore with the first run of the game.

Hernández struck out the first batter he faced, Dustin Pedroia, then walked both Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. Manny Ramírez – who reached base in all five of his Game One plate appearances – hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Jhonny Peralta led off the Indians second with a single, but an out and a double play followed. It was three up/three down for the Red Sox in the bottom of the inning.

Likewise, the Indians were three up/three down in the top of the third. The Red Sox fared better in their half. First up was Coco Crisp. He singled to right. While Julio Lugo was batting, Crisp stole second. Lugo struck out, but Pedroia walked on four pitches. After Youkilis struck out, Ortiz reached on a single back to the pitcher and the bases were loaded, albeit with two outs.

Ramírez walked on four pitches – for the second game in a row picking up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk.2 Mike Lowell followed with a single to right that drove in both Pedroia and Ortiz and gave Boston a 3-1 lead. J.D. Drew grounded out, second to first. Hernández threw 39 pitches in the inning.

In the fourth inning, Cleveland went back ahead, 4-3, on a single to right by Martinez, a single to center by Ryan Garko, and a three-run homer by Peralta that “banged off the back wall of the triangle in center.”3

The Indians added a run in the fifth on a one-out solo home run by Sizemore, his second extra-base hit of the game.4 After Schilling struck out Cabrera, Martinez and Travis Hafner singled. Manager Terry Francona called on Manny Delcarmen in relief; it was only the second time in Schilling’s 19 postseason starts that he did not complete at least five innings. Garko grounded into a force play.

The Red Sox responded in their half of the fifth. On Hernández’s 100th pitch of the game, Youkilis singled to left, and Wedge called in lefty Rafael Pérez from the bullpen.

Pérez, who had a 1.78 ERA in 44 regular-season appearances, got Ortiz to ground into a force play at second base. He got ahead of Manny Ramírez with two strikes, but Ramírez drove the next pitch into the Boston bullpen for a game-tying two-run homer. It was the 23rd postseason home run of Ramírez’s career, eclipsing Bernie Williams for first place all-time.

Three pitches later, Lowell made it back-to-back homers with a blast off the Sports Authority billboard atop Fenway Park’s left-field wall. Boston now held a 6-5 lead. After Drew singled to left field, Wedge summoned Jensen Lewis to take over from Perez. Varitek hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

The Red Sox were up by a run, but only for a few minutes. Cleveland tied it in the sixth with a walk to Peralta, a single to right (Peralta going to third) by 40-year-old Kenny Lofton, and an RBI groundout to short by Franklin Gutierrez. Hideki Okajima relieved Delcarmen and – despite loading the bases on an intentional walk to Sizemore and an infield single by Cabrera – got the two outs he needed.

From the bottom of the third through the top of the sixth, the teams had combined for 11 runs on 15 hits, but the bullpens restored order over the next few innings. Cleveland’s Lewis and Rafael Betancourt teamed up for three straight one-two-three innings from the sixth through the eighth. Boston’s Okajima retired the Indians in order in the seventh, and Mike Timlin did the same in the eighth.

In the top of the ninth, with the score still 6-6, Jonathan Papelbon became Boston’s fifth pitcher of the evening. After a pair of infield popups made it nine Indians retired in a row, Hafner singled. Pinch-runner Josh Barfield stole second, but Papelbon worked his way out of the inning with an intentional walk and a force play at second.

The Red Sox more or less replicated the scenario against Betancourt in the bottom of the inning. Two outs to start the inning extended Boston’s string of hitless plate appearances to 12. Then a single by Pedroia, a pinch-runner, and a stolen base by pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury put the potential winning run in scoring position, but Youkilis flied to center for the third out.

Papelbon set down Cleveland on order in the top of the 10th and the stage was set for more late-inning heroics by Ortiz or Ramirez, or possibly Lowell, but Tom Mastny retired all three.

The Indians blew the game open in the top of the 11th. The Red Sox had turned to Éric Gagné, who was acquired from the Texas Rangers at the July 31 trading deadline. In Game One, he had come in with a seven-run lead in the top of the ninth. He faced six batters, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and striking out the other three.

In a tied Game Two, Gagné struck out Casey Blake, but Sizemore singled and Cabrera walked. Left-hander Javier López relieved Gagné. A Boston Globe writer dubbed the outing as “Gagné’s rocky horror pitcher show.”5 López, who had worked in 61 games with a 3.10 ERA during the season, had it worse. Trot Nixon, with Boston for the first 10 seasons of his career before signing with Cleveland as a free agent in January 2007, pinch-hit. He dropped a single into center, scoring Sizemore. Cabrera ran to third base on the throw to the plate.

With Martínez at bat, López threw a wild pitch and Cabrera scored for an 8-6 lead. Martínez was then walked intentionally. Garko skipped a single over the mound and into center, giving Cleveland its third run.

Another call to the pen brought it Jon Lester. Lester was 4-0 in the regular season, with a 4.57 ERA in 12 appearances (11 of them starts).6 Peralta doubled over third and into the left-field corner, driving in Martínez. Lofton flied out to center, but Gutierrez capped off the inning with a three-run homer into the Green Monster seats in left-center. Cleveland led, 13-6.

Joe Borowski was asked to hold the seven-run lead.7 While he gave up a pair of singles, a strikeout and a double play ended the night at 1:37 A.M. In a game that had become a battle of the bullpens – seven relievers for the Red Sox and five for the Indians – the Indians clearly came out on top.

The seven extra-inning runs for Cleveland were the most any postseason team had scored in one extra inning.8 It was also the first extra-inning postseason game the Red Sox had ever lost at home. They had been 7-0, with a tie in Game Two of the 1912 World Series.

Cleveland had evened the best-of-seven series at one win apiece, with the next three games to be played at its home ballpark, Jacobs Field.9  

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mike Huber and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Jhonny Peralta, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a video of some highlights of the game on YouTube.com. Thanks to Joe Wancho for supplying Cleveland newspaper accounts of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200710130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B10130BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFyTjBPwUvw

Notes

1 He was known as Fausto Carmona during the 2007 season and pitched under that name. His birth name, and one he reverted to after the 2011 season, is Roberto Hernandez. Thus, in 2012 the Cleveland Indians right-hander named Roberto Hernandez is the same pitcher who was – through 2011 – known as Fausto Carmona. Hernandez was arrested in his native Dominican Republic in January 2012 due to a doctored birth certificate (one which also claimed he was three years younger than he really was). He served a suspension and returned to the Indians as Hernandez in August 2012. See Casey Drottar, “Indians Lookback: The Strange Saga of the Man Once Called Fausto Carmona,” Sports Illustrated, si.com, April 6, 2020. https://www.si.com/mlb/guardians/opinion/indians-lookback-the-strange-saga-of-the-man-once-called-fausto-carmona. Accessed January 7, 2023.

2 Indeed, it was his third bases-loaded walk in two games, setting a new postseason record. Mary Schmitt Boyer, “Ramirez Altering Record Books,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 14, 2007: C4. Terry Pluto pointed out that the Red Sox led the league in taking bases on balls, while Indians pitchers had walked the fewest. He added, “The patience of the Red Sox hitters is frustrating the Tribe’s two aces – something that never happened during the regular season.” Terry Pluto, “Few Have Won Down Two to None,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 14, 2007: C5.

3 Dan Shaughnessy, “Red Sox Get Caught into Another Classic,” Boston Globe, October 14, 2007: A1, C9.

4 Sizemore had been very effective for Cleveland, playing in every regular-season game and leading off in 150 of them, fourth in the league with 118 runs scored. In this game, he doubled, homered, got an intentional walk, and singled, scoring three runs. Joe Maxse, “Leadoff Hitter Takes the Lead,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 14, 2007: C6.

5 Kevin Paul Dupont, “Lesson Learned after an All-Nighter,” Boston Globe, October 15, 2007: F5.

6 Lester had beaten back cancer in the interim. In late August 2006 (with a record of 7-2), he had been diagnosed with cancer, undergone treatment, and only returned in late July 2007. His story is told in the SABR book Overcoming Adversity: Baseball’s Tony Conigliaro Award, Bill Nowlin and Clayton Trutor, eds. (Phoenix: SABR, 2017).

7 The seven runs for Cleveland were the most by a team in one extra inning in postseason history.

8 Paul Hoynes, “Trot’s Delight/Nixon’s RBI Ignites 7-Run 11th,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 14, 2007: C1.

9 The Indians won the next two games of the series to take a three-games-to-one lead, but the Red Sox won the final three, outscoring Cleveland 30-5, to reach the World Series, where they swept the Colorado Rockies in four games for the seventh World Series title in franchise history.

In Game Three, Indians manager Eric Wedge – who had been named The Sporting News Manager of the Year earlier that day – started veteran Jake Westbrook. The 30-year-old right-hander had missed most of May and June with a strained abdominal muscle and finished with a less-than-inspiring 6-9 record and a 4.32 ERA. His first postseason pitching appearance was in Game Three of the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees. He had given up six runs in five innings, three on ex-Red Soxer Johnny Damon’s homer, and lost, 8-4.

Terry Francona’s starter for Boston was Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had gone 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA and a Red Sox rookie record 201 strikeouts. Though a US major-league rookie, he had eight years of experience in Japanese major-league ball, all for the Seibu Lions, where he had pitched so well he had earned a massive contract with the Red Sox.1 He’d lost four of his last six starts in the regular season, but held the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to three runs in 4⅔ innings in Game Two of the ALDS.

In the first inning, the only player to reach base for either team was Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, who walked but was removed from the basepaths when David Ortiz hit into a double play.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the second. Manny Ramírez walked, Mike Lowell singled, and J.D. Drew reached on Ryan Garko’s fielding error at first base. But a Jason Varitek fly ball and another double play hit into by Coco Crisp resulted in nothing in the runs column.

It was the Indians who scored first, in the bottom of the second, on a one-out single to center by Garko and a two-run home run just over the nine-foot wall in right-center by Kenny Lofton. Lofton was back for a third time with Cleveland – giving him 10 total seasons with the team – after a late July trade from the Texas Rangers. He had not homered in 196 plate appearances for the 2007 Indians but came up big with this one. The ball went out over a leaping J.D. Drew.2 It “bounced off the top of the wall before falling safely into the outstretched arms of the fans who adore the 40-year-old,” reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer.3 Trot Nixon grounded out to end the inning, but the Indians led, 2-0.

The third inning was relatively uneventful. The Red Sox went down in order. After “Dice-K” got two outs, Asdrúbal Cabrera singled and Travis Hafner walked, but Victor Martínez struck out swinging.

David Ortiz led off the fourth with a double to left but was called out when Ramírez’s hit struck him in the thigh between second and third.4 Ramirez was credited with a single, but two groundouts followed.

Sinkerballer Westbrook retired the three Boston batters he faced in the fifth, all on groundouts.  The Indians scored twice more in their half for a 4-0 lead. With one out, Casey Blake singled over third base. He took second on a wild pitch to Grady Sizemore, who walked a few pitches later. Cabrera singled up the middle, scoring Blake and sending Sizemore to third. Hafner hit into a force at second but hustled to beat out the double play as Sizemore scored. When Martínez singled, Francona pulled Matsuzaka for Mike Timlin, who struck out Garko.

The Red Sox tried to rally in the sixth. After one out, Youkilis singled and Ortiz walked, but Ramírez hit into a 6-4-3 double play, Boston’s third of the game.5

After Timlin retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox got on the board in the seventh. J.D. Drew singled to center with one out. Varitek then homered – just beyond center fielder Sizemore’s leap – to cut the Indians lead in half: 4-2. It was Varitek’s 10th postseason home run for the Red Sox, tying David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez for the franchise record.

One out later, Julio Lugo singled, and Dustin Pedroia, headed for AL Rookie of the Year honors, came to the plate as the potential tying run. Wedge called in Jensen Lewis. It took Lewis eight pitches, but he struck out Pedroia for the third out.

Hideki Okajima pitched to three Indians in the bottom of the seventh and got outs from all three.

Rafael Betancourt faced three Red Sox batters in the eighth and retired all three. After Hafner grounded out in the bottom of the eighth, Okajima walked Victor Martínez. Manny Delcarmen took over in relief and struck out the two batters he faced, with seven pitches – Garko and Jhonny Peralta.

Looking to hold the two-run lead, Wedge called on Joe Borowski, whose 45 saves had led the American League. Borowski booked his second postseason save of the year. Lowell popped up to first base. Drew hit a fly ball to center for the second out. And, though Varitek battled for nine pitches, he popped up to third base on the 10th one.

Westbrook got the win. Fourteen of his 20 outs were on groundballs. Wedge was appreciative: “We needed it. Our bullpen has been working hard. We needed Jake to get us that deep into the game.”6

Cleveland had taken a two-games-to-one lead in the series, in a close game that resembled not at all the two that had come before. The Indians, whose regular-season home record of 51-29 was topped only by the Angels and Yankees, were now unbeaten in three postseason games at Jacobs Field. The Red Sox were concerned about their starting pitching, other than Game One starter Josh Beckett. The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo wrote, “The last two starts, by Curt Schilling and Matsuzaka, have not been very good. At least, not playoff-good.”7 

Utility infielder Alex Cora said, “There are guys on this team who have been down a lot worse than 2-1. … We’re not going to say, ‘Oh my God, we’re down 2-1, what are we going to do?’ and throw our hands up and give up. We have to win a game or two here so we can bring this back to our ballpark. Everyone has a lot of faith in being able to get that done.”8

In Cleveland, there was something more like euphoria. One Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist mused: “[N]ow the Indians are halfway to the World Series. For much of Monday’s game, red, blue and silver streamers from the pregame festivities, which had gotten snagged on the third deck’s facade, blew in the wind, like favors for a long-planned party. And today Indians fans wonder again how great it might be.”9

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Thanks to Joe Wancho for providing Cleveland newspaper clippings.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE200710150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B10150CLE2007.htm

Two highlight videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQMqpF5m7Zs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQacXJezZ7M

Photo credit: Jake Westbrook, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 “Boston paid the Lions $51.1 million for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka under the old MLB-NPB posting agreement, then signed him to a six-year, $52 million contract in December 2006.” Thomas Harrigan, “Dice-K Retires, Surprised by Ichiro in Finale,” mlb.com, December 14, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/daisuke-matsuzaka-retires-after-23-year-career.

2 For a good appreciation of Lofton, see Jim McCabe, “Lofton Is Their Comeback Kid,” Boston Globe, October 16, 2007: D4.

3 Jodie Valade, “With One Swing, Lofton Steals the Show,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 16, 2007: D6.

4 Of the blunder, Francona said, “They weren’t holding him and he had a big lead. He took a jab step toward third, and I think he realized he was in no-man’s land. He stopped and the ball hit him. By that point, he was probably out, anyway.” Gordon Edes, “Dicey Situation,” Boston Globe, October 16, 2007: D1, D7.

5 The Red Sox had also hit into three double plays in Game Two. Adding the one from Game One, the total of seven was the most any team had hit into in first three games of a League Championship Series. The Red Sox also hit into a raft of other groundball outs. Edes.

6 Paul Hoynes, “Pointing the Way—Westbook Leads Tribe to 2-1 Edge,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 16, 2007: D1.

7 Nick Cafardo, “Shaky Team Tries to Keep the Faith,” Boston Globe, October 16, 2007: D2.

8 Cafardo.

9 Bill Livingston, “Lofton’s shot recalls falls past,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 16, 2007: D5. The Indians won Game Four to take a three-games-to-one lead, but the Red Sox won the final three games, outscoring Cleveland 30-5, to reach the World Series, where they swept the Colorado Rockies in four games for the seventh World Series title in franchise history.