Sunday, October 20, 2013

Victorino Sends Sox To World Series; Win, 5-2

(Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
It was looking bleak in the seventh inning. The Tigers had the lead, the presumptive Cy Young winner on the hill and nine defensive outs to Justin Verlander in Game Seven. Then Jonny Gomes doubled, rookie Xander Bogaerts walked and former Sox shortstop Joe Iglesias made a rare error. With the bases loaded and one out, on an 0-2 count, the slumping Shane Victorino sent a hanging curveball into the Monster Seats and suddenly Boston had a 5-2 lead. Craig Breslow had a shutdown eighth and ALCS MVP Koji Uehara did the job again and with the 5-2 win, The Carmine Hose were World Series bound for third time in 10 years. Boston took the early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Jacoby Ellsbury—after Bogaerts had doubled high off the left-center filed wall. Max Scherzer and Clay Buchholz dueled into the sixth, but Buchholz ran out of gas. Franklin Morales (an odd choice by John Farrell) came in and yielded two runs. That's how it stayed until Victorino's blast. Boston will open their try for an eighth World Series Championship on Wednesday night at Fenway against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.