Big Papi's grand slam saves Boston

Paul White | USA TODAY Sports

BOSTON -- Giving up the hit that cost his team a no-hitter a night earlier was, as Joaquin Benoit and the rest of the Detroit Tigers were quick to point out, not such a big deal.

The one hit Benoit allowed Sunday was far more dramatic. The eighth-inning grand slam by David Ortiz cost his team a victory, changed the face of the American League Championship Series and likely saved the Boston Red Sox's season..

The winning run in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 Boston victory – which ties the series 1-1 -- was almost anti-climactic given the desperate straits the Red Sox were in.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled home Jonny Gomes to end the game in an inning when everything else that could possibly go wrong for the Tigers did.

But nothing went more wrong for Detroit and right for the Red Sox than one more huge example of Ortiz heroics.

"We need it man, we need to start some momentum," Ortiz said after he launched the first pitch Benoit threw into the Red Sox bullpen.

Tigers right fielder Torii Hunter, one of Ortiz's close friends from their days growing up in the Minnesota Twins system, somersaulted over the wall and into the bullpen in a vain attempt to maintain the Tigers lead and what appeared to be a vice-grip on the series.

"The one guy you don't want to beat you and he beat us," Hunter said. "One of the best hitters in post-season history and he hit it out of the park and it ties the game up and they end up coming back and winning the game. I'm pissed."

He's hardly alone.

"That's been his career," said Mike Carp, who watched from the on-deck circle. "That's Big Papi."

His career trademark has been walkoff hits – 17 of them in the regular season and playoffs, including 11 homers – but he left that for Saltalamacchia this time and still stole the show.

"If I tell you I was thinking about hitting a grand slam, I'd be lying to you," Ortiz said. "You try to put a good swing on the ball."

That's something the Red Sox were having a difficult time doing against anyone, with one hit in the first 15 innings of the series – the single Daniel Nava got against Benoit in the ninth inning of Game 1.

"I tell you what," Ortiz said. "The postseason is something that can work both ways. It can go well if you stay calm. Or it can go bad if you try to overdo things.

"We were all trying to overdo things," he said. "I was chasing a lot of bad pitches. I feel like I was jumping. It happens to all of us. I'm pretty sure that game we're going to have on Tuesday against

Verlander, you're going to see guys having better at-bats."

The series is merely tied with the next three games in Detroit, beginning with Justin Verlander and his 28-inning scoreless streak on the mound for the Tigers. John Lackey will start for Boston.

But from the moment Ortiz sent Fenway Park into a frenzy, the whole tenor of the series changed.

The Tigers went out meekly in the ninth against Red Sox closer Koji Uehara and unraveled in the bottom of the inning.

Gomes's bouncer between shortstop and third base was an infield hit, but he also advanced to second when shortstop Jose Iglesias – traded from Boston to Detroit earlier this season – threw wide of first.

With Saltalamacchia batting, first baseman Prince Fielder wasn't able to hold his pop foul while leaning against the front of the stands behind first base.

With Saltalamacchia still batting, Rick Porcello threw a wild pitch that advanced Gomes to third and Saltalamacchia followed with a single to left.

Held to one hit for the first 14 innings of the series, the Red Sox erupted once they got another dominant Tigers starter – this time Max Scherzer – out of the game.

Benoit was the third Detroit reliever used in the eighth inning. Entering after Boston loaded the bases on a double by Will Middlebrooks, a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury and a single by Dustin Pedroia, he needed all of one pitch to learn what so many Red Sox opponents have learned before about Ortiz.

"Benoit is our guy against lefties," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of choosing the right-handed closer instead of lefty Phil Coke to pitch to the left-handed Ortiz. "Coke hadn't pitched a big game for quite awhile."

Scherzer, a 21-game winner during the season and the Cy Young Award favorite, was the story for as long as he was in the game. He finally allowed a hit when Victorino singled with two outs in the sixth. Pedroia followed with a double to make it one more hit and one more run than Boston managed in Game 1 when starter Anibal Sanchez held them hitless through six and the Red Sox didn't get their lone hit until the ninth.

The Red Sox are at a loss to deal with Scherzer despite beating him 2-1 in a September 3 game at Fenway.

"Going back to the start that he made here, we're going to have to adjust based on how he commands the baseball, particularly early in the count," Red Sox manager John Farrell said before Sunday's game. "We had a tendency to swing early in the counts last time we faced him."

The first two times through the batting order Sunday, 15 of the 18 Boston batters saw four or more pitches – above the major league average. Of the three exceptions, one was a three-pitch strikeout and another a first-pitch hit batter.

When the Red Sox finally created some offense against Scherzer, it was back to being more aggressive. Victorino's single came on the fifth pitch, but he swung at four of them, including the first three. Pedroia's RBI double came on the second pitch. Victorino and Pedroia swung at every pitch in the strike zone in those two at-bats.

Still, the Red Sox credited their approach with contributing to the end result. Even Leyland admitted Scherzer "was spent," when he was taken out.

"Every swing and miss, every ball, everything had a role," Gomes said of eventually getting Scherzer out of the game after throwing 108 pitches. "Whether it was a long at-bat to get his pitch count up. Big Papi gets up there with the bases loaded because of all the work we did before."

That was the Red Sox mantra, even as dominant as Scherzer was.

"When these guys are on, just hang with 'em," Carp said of the Tigers starters. "But they get tired. They're human as much as they seem like they're not."

Just like Ortiz must seem when he walks to the plate in another of those situations.