BOSTON — The pyrotechnics hailing over Fenway Park on Monday were lit by B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Peña.
Their home runs humbled Red Sox nation and playoffs ace Jon Lester in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. But it was the in-your-face, no-fear performance of 24-year-old starter Matt Garza that was at the heart of Tampa Bay’s 9-1 trashing of the Red Sox.
“Garza is the main reason we won that game, I really believe that,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said after his team took a 2-1 lead in the series. “Matt doing what he did permitted us to get into the flow of the game.”
Garza started off shaky in front of the roaring Fenway throng. Dustin Pedroia belted a double in the first, and Jason Bay singled and Mark Kotsay doubled in the second. But the Red Sox didn’t score until the seventh.
“I told myself, ‘Let them keep knocking at that door, keeping knocking at that wall, but they ain’t coming home,’ ” said Garza, who was hammered for five runs on seven hits by Chicago in Game 3 of the ALDS.
“Against the White Sox last week, I didn’t make those pitches in that situation,” Garza said. “I told myself, ‘I’ve got to execute this series, I’ve got to execute tonight.’ ”
Few thought Garza would outpitch Lester, who late this season supplanted the hurting Josh Beckett as the Red Sox’s ace. But that’s exactly what Garza did, pitching six innings of six-hit ball, striking out five and walking three.
He continued the Rays’ chokehold on Boston slugger David Ortiz. “Big Papi” went 0-for-4 and is now 0-for-10 in the series.
“Ortiz? That was a little payback,” Garza said. “He got me twice in Tampa in my last start against him. I just told myself, ‘Attack this guy.’ I just kept going away, going away, and that kind of made him expand his strike zone.”
Lester, the man who dominated the Rockies in last year’s World Series, had been invincible at Fenway, going 11-0 with a 2.28 ERA here since his last loss at the ballpark April 9 vs. Detroit. Moreover, he had not allowed an earned run in the postseason since Game 2 of the 2007 ALCS — a string that reached 24 2/3 innings until Upton rocketed Lester’s 2-1 pitch for a three-run homer over the fabled Green Monster in the third inning. Two batters later, Longoria hit another home to left.
Those were sure signs that Lester was a mere mortal on this day. He lasted just 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits.
“He was trying to get a pitch to Upton — a fastball up under his hands,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “He didn’t get it where he needed to. Then he threw a cutter to Longoria right over the middle of the plate. That was four runs right there.”
And it was game over, especially with the way Garza pitched. Traded to Tampa Bay from Minnesota last November, Garza never figured joining the Rays would be so fruitful. After all, this was a team that had never won more than 70 games in its first 10 years of existence. This was a team that Las Vegas oddsmakers slotted as a 150-1 shot to make the World Series.
“When I first got traded, yes, there was doubt,” he said. “But walking into the clubhouse in spring training, it was like, we could actually pull this thing off.”
Recap
Key moment
With two on and no outs in the third, Rays center fielder B.J. Upton crushed Jon Lester’s 2-1 pitch over the Green Monster for a 4-0 Rays lead and destroyed Lester’s cloak of invincibility. Coming in, Lester had pitched 24 2/3 consecutive postseason innings without allowing an earned run.
Unsung hero
Tampa Bay pitching coach Jim Hickey. When starter Matt Garza struggled early in the game, it was Hickey who got him back on track with a few choice words.
Up next
Down 2-1 in the series, Boston turns to veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield tonight at Fenway. This season against Tampa Bay, Wakefield is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA in three starts.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
