St. Petersburg, FL -- (Sports Network) - Fernando Perez raced home on B.J. Upton's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning, giving Tampa Bay a dramatic 9-8 win over the Boston Red Sox to cap a wild Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
A total of seven home runs were hit in the game, tying a postseason record. That included two by Boston's Dustin Pedroia, but in the end, the gritty Rays evened the best-of-seven series.
Evan Longoria had three hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs. Upton also homered off Josh Beckett, as did Cliff Floyd for the Rays.
Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay homered for Boston, which went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base. Boston's franchise-record six-game road postseason winning streak came to an end.
Mike Timlin (0-1) walked Dioner Navarro to start the bottom of the 11th. Perez then came on as a pinch-runner, and Ben Zobrist drew a walk. Jason Bartlett grounded out to third, but the runners moved up a base and Timlin intentionally walked Akinori Iwamura before Upton lofted a fly ball to short right field. J.D. Drew made the catch, but his throw home was toward the third base line, and Perez was easily safe, ending the 5-hour, 27-minute marathon just after 1:30 a.m.
"In a straight-up race, I've got him over Sea Biscuit," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Perez, referring to the champion thoroughbred race horse.
David Price (1-0), the first overall pick in last year's draft, recorded the final two outs of the top of the 11th to get the win. Another key part of the victory was a 3 1/3rd inning performance on the mound by Dan Wheeler, who allowed just one hit and had four strikeouts.
The Rays were fortunate because the Red Sox couldn't capitalize on a big opportunity in the 11th when Jed Lowrie and Drew walked with one out. Price then fanned Mark Kotsay and Coco Crisp grounded into a force play. Then came Upton's heroics.
"I knew in that situation I couldn't strike out," said Upton. "I wanted to put the ball in play and put a little pressure on the defense, especially with Fernando at third base. Either way it's going to be a tough play for them. Luckily I got the ball up in the air."
The series shifts to Boston for Game 3 Monday afternoon. Matt Garza is the expected starter for the Rays, while Jon Lester gets the ball for the defending World Series champions.
The starting pitchers were both knocked out after 4 1/3 innings with Beckett and Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir each surrendering a trio of homers. Beckett was tagged for eight runs on nine hits, while Kazmir was charged with five runs on six hits.
"Both starters seemed to have kind of the same problem," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "Both teams went about it a little differently, got to the same place in the end. We're on the road in extra innings and there's no margin for error."
Boston won 2-0 on Friday behind a brilliant pitching performance from Daisuke Matsuzaka, but there were plenty of offensive fireworks one night later.
The fifth inning alone lasted 53 minutes with each team scoring three times. The Red Sox got homers from Pedroia and Youkilis off Kazmir. Bay then followed Youkilis by taking Grant Balfour's 2-2 offering well over the wall in left field for a 6-5 Boston edge.
The Rays countered in the bottom half as Upton walked with one out, stole second and scored on a Carlos Pena base hit to right-center field. Longoria then stroked an RBI double to the left-field corner and went to third on a late throw home, giving the Rays the lead again. Javier Lopez then replaced Beckett, but his first pitch was grounded into right field by Carl Crawford for an 8-6 margin.
Pedroia drew a one-out walk from J.P. Howell in the sixth and scored when Youkilis and Bay had back-to-back two-out singles off Chad Bradford.
A wild pitch then tied the game in the eighth. Pedroia singled to right field. Trever Miller then replaced Bradford and walked David Ortiz. Wheeler then came on and got Youkilis to hit into a double-play, sending Pedroia to third. Wheeler then uncorked an extremely high pitch. The ball sailing over the glove of Navarro, whose underhand toss back to a covering Wheeler at the plate was late.
Crisp hit a ground-rule double to center with two outs in the ninth inning when Upton seemed to misjudge the fly ball, but the runner was stranded when Jacoby Ellsbury struck out.
Bay doubled in two runs in the first inning, but Longoria tied the game in the bottom half with a two-run blast.
Pedroia led off the third with a shot over the wall in left, but Upton homered in the bottom half, and Crawford's single drove in Longoria for a 4-3 Rays edge.
Floyd led off the fourth with a blast over the wall in center field.
Game Notes
Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon threw 1 1/3 scoreless frames, extending his record for most career playoff innings in history without allowing a run to 22 frames...Pedroia scored four times...Bay and Youkilis each had three hits. Youkilis is 10-for-28 in the playoffs, while Bay is 11-for-25...Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was ejected in the 11th inning for arguing balls and strikes.
