Lowrie sends Angels packing, Boston back to ALCS

Baseball Betting Lines

10/07/2008 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston introduced a new late-game hero, as Jed Lowrie's seeing-eye single to right scored Jason Bay with the winning run in the ninth frame, as the Red Sox advanced to the American League Championship Series with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Game 4 at Fenway Park.

Bay, the man who replaced much-maligned yet still terrorizing hitter Manny Ramirez in a three-team trade prior to the trade deadline, scored the winning run as part of a solid series.

He hit a bloop tight to the right-field line that bounced just to the side of Reggie Willits, who was put into the game as a pinch-runner in the top of the frame. The ball caromed into the seats for a ground-rule double. Mark Kotsay followed with a line-drive shot that appeared destined for right field, but first baseman Mark Teixeira lunged to his left and made an acrobatic catch.

Lowrie followed with the dribbler that rolled into right field just past the diving Howie Kendrick.

"It's a funny game. It's all a matter of keeping a steady approach," Lowrie said of his mind set prior to the last at-bat.

Manny Delcarmen (1-0) retired two batters to pick up the victory, and Scot Shields (0-1) gave up the winning run in the ninth to suffer the loss.

The Red Sox will now meet AL East rival Tampa Bay in the American League Championship Series starting Friday in St. Petersburg.

Torii Hunter drove in the lone two runs for the Angels, while Bay and Lowrie each recorded a multi-hit game for the Red Sox, who won the best-of-five series, 3-1.

The defending-champion Red Sox are back in familiar territory -- the American League Championship Series -- behind a new cast of characters. Ramirez is in Hollywood, Mike Lowell's bad hip landed him off the roster for this game and the entire ALCS and David Ortiz continued a below average postseason.

That isn't the case for Bay and Lowrie, who are hitting .412 and .364 respectively through four postseason games. Another star is the young southpaw Jon Lester, who continued his dominating postseason. Lester didn't allow an earned run in 14 innings during this series after scattering four hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts on Monday.

Lester hasn't given up an earned run over his last 22 2/3 postseason frames.

John Lackey was nearly as good, yielding two runs on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout over seven frames. The Angels failed to reach the ALCS after becoming the first 100-game winner since the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals.

Both teams went quietly into the night in the first frame, and Lester bared down to punch out Kendrick with two runners on base to end the top of the second frame. Lester worked out of another first-and-second jam in the third, inducing a Vladimir Guerrero ground out.

The Angels again threatened in the fifth with runners on the corners and two outs before Teixeira was called out on strikes on a borderline low-and-outside pitch.

Finally, Boston's offense struck first in the home half of the fifth. Kotsay led off with a base hit and Jason Varitek's one-out single moved the outfielder to third. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a slow chopper to second, but Kendrick bobbled in quickly trying to pivot for a potential inning-ending double play. He recovered to nab Ellsbury by a step, but Kotsay crossed the plate.

Dustin Pedroia, mired in an 0-for-15 start in the series, followed by clubbing a hanging breaking ball off the Green Monster for an RBI double and a 2-0 edge.

The Angels squared the contest against the Boston bullpen in the top of the eighth. Teixeira walked with two outs, and Justin Masterson entered the game on the mound. Guerrero then walked and both runners moved up one base on a passed ball. Hunter lined a single to right, plating both runners to tie the game.

The visitors looked ready to take the lead in the top of the ninth. Pinch- hitter Kendry Morales doubled and Willits, pinch-running, moved to third on Kendrick's sacrifice bunt. With Erick Aybar at the plate, an attempted suicide squeeze was bunted through, and Varitek ran down Willits for the tag and the second out.

"I thought it was good play with the guy we had at the plate and the count we had," Angels manager Mike Scioscia rationalized.

Game Notes

Boston has won 12 of 13 postseason games versus the Angels...One game after recording three hits, Chone Figgins added a pair of singles in a 2-for-4 game. The Angels turned a pair of double plays...The Rays won 10 of 18 meetings with the Red Sox during the regular season.