BOSTON — Through 3 1/3 innings on Friday, the Rays had Fenway Park sounding funereal. Much as they had done to raucous home atmospheres earlier in the week in Arlington, Texas, and Cleveland.
BOSTON — Through 3 1/3 innings on Friday, the Rays had Fenway Park sounding funereal. Much as they had done to raucous home atmospheres earlier in the week in Arlington, Texas, and Cleveland.
Then rookie Wil Myers misplayed a fly ball by David Ortiz in the bottom of the fourth that changed everything.
The Red Sox scored five times in the inning, then batted around again in a three-run fifth en route to pounding the Rays, 12-2, in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Game 2 is 5:37 p.m. EDT on Saturday with Boston’s John Lackey (10-13, 3.52 ERA) against David Price (10-8, 3.33).
“It’s not easy for something like that to happen, especially in a big situation like that,” the 22-year-old Myers said. “It gave them the momentum.”
The Red Sox looked listless against 24-year-old lefthander Matt Moore, who dominated them in two starts during the regular season.
Solo homers off Jon Lester (two runs and three hits in 7 2/3 innings) from Sean Rodriguez in the second and Ben Zobrist in the fourth, gave the Rays, playing their fourth game in a fourth city in a six-day span, a 2-0 lead.
Suddenly, Fenway, which had not played host to a playoff game since 2009, went quiet.
But Dustin Pedroia sent a single back up the middle to lead off the fourth for the first Boston hit, bringing up Ortiz, who sent a drive to deep right-center. Myers, the rightfielder, drifted back and had the ball the entire way. He called off centerfielder Desmond Jennings but suddenly aborted, letting the ball fall. It bounced over the wall for a double, putting runners at second and third with none out.
“I saw Des out of the corner of my eye and I backed off,” Myers said. “That was totally my fault. I messed it up.”
Red Sox manager John Farrell said, “We were fortunate to catch a break.”
The dike quickly burst as, after Mike Napoli popped out, Jonny Gomes, who played with Tampa Bay from 2003-08, doubled high off the Monster to bring in Pedroia and Ortiz to tie it at 2.
The crowd began to chant “My-ers! My-ers!” and did not let up the rest of the game.
Stephen Drew came next and beat out an infield single to first, on which Gomes scored from second to make it 3-2.
Will Middlebrooks then drove one off the Monster that took an awkward bounce past Rodriguez, the leftfielder, allowing Drew to come in from first, making it 4-2. Moore struck out Jacoby Ellsbury, but the ball caromed off catcher Jose Lobaton’s glove for a passed ball. Shane Victorino cashed in with a single to right to bring Middlebrooks home for a 5-2 lead.
It was a shocking inning of defensive ineptitude for the Rays, one of baseball’s elite defensive clubs.
“We’ve not been making any mistakes,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. “We made a bunch tonight. We’re normally not the team that makes those kind of mistakes.”