Boston Pops Yankee Bubble

As Sunday night turned into Monday morning and autumn was about to turn into a long, cold winter in New England, the Boston Red Sox discovered something they had been lacking for just about all of this American League championship series: a pulse.

The Red Sox rallied to tie the game off bulletproof closer Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning and won it on David Ortiz’s dramatic two-run, walk-off homer off reliever Paul Quantrill in the 12th for an electrifying 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 4 before 34,826 in Fenway Park.

The Yankees still lead the best-of-seven series, three games to one, but the heart of the Red Sox -- and all of the Northeast -- is still beating thanks to Ortiz, whose walk-off homer in the 10th inning off Jarrod Washburn beat the Angels in Game 3 of the division series on Oct. 8, completing a sweep.

Manny Ramirez led off the 12th Sunday night with a single to left, and Ortiz, Boston’s cleanup batter who knocked in two runs with a clutch fifth-inning single, stepped to the plate at 1:23 a.m. local time, in the shadow of a Prudential Building whose windows were illuminated to read: “GO SOX.”

Ortiz then turned viciously on a 2-and-1 pitch, lining it into the Yankee bullpen in right field, sparking a wild celebration at home plate and stoking memories for some Red Sox fans of Carlton Fisk’s dramatic 12th-inning home run to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

“This one keeps us alive,” Boston center fielder Johnny Damon said. “We had the right guys up. Manny and David have come up big all year, never bigger than tonight. It means we can play tomorrow. We took a step forward tonight.”

The 5-hour 2-minute game was the longest in ALCS history and allowed the Red Sox at least a shot of making some more history: no major league team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series.

“We were playing a game tonight where if we don’t win, we’d be packing right now,” Ortiz said. “But you never know. Things can change. You never know what can happen. We just have to keep playing.”

They will keep playing today, with Red Sox right-hander Pedro Martinez facing Yankee right-hander Mike Mussina in Game 5, and Boston ace Curt Schilling, his injured right ankle deemed strong enough by Manager Terry Francona to pitch on, in line to start Game 6 if necessary.

They will keep playing because they never stopped playing Sunday night, going through five relievers, including Curtis Leskanic, who threw 1 1/3 innings to gain the victory, finally tapping their deep and versatile bench for a clutch stolen base and run from Dave Roberts in the ninth, and getting a gutsy start from Derek Lowe, who was demoted to the bullpen when the playoffs began.

“We went through everybody in the bullpen, we had guys contribute who haven’t played much,” Francona said. “We did a lot of things tonight to hang on and win that game.”

The Yankees nearly won it in the top of the 11th when Miguel Cairo opened with a single off reliever Alan Embree and took second on Derek Jeter’s bunt. Red Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera made a superb back-hand diving catch of Alex Rodriguez’s liner for the second out, and Gary Sheffield was walked intentionally.

In a curious move, Francona pulled Embree, a left-hander, for another lefty, side-winding Mike Myers, to face hot-hitting Hideki Matsui. Embree rolled his eyes as he left the mound, a sentiment that spread through the stadium when Myers walked Matsui on four pitches to load the bases.

But Leskanic, who was rocked for three runs in one-third of an inning in Saturday night’s loss, replaced Myers and bailed out the Red Sox, retiring Bernie Williams on a lazy fly ball to center.

The Red Sox were three outs from getting swept in the ninth, and their chances of extending their season looked remote. They trailed, 4-3, and Rivera, who entered with an 0.69 postseason earned-run average and 31 saves in 34 playoff opportunities, was on for his second inning.

But Kevin Millar drew a walk to open the inning, and Roberts, the former Dodger who was making his first appearance of the series, stole second on Rivera’s first pitch to Bill Mueller.

Mueller squared to bunt and pulled the bat back, taking a strike. Francona took off the bunt, and Mueller, whose two-run, game-winning, walk-off homer off Rivera on July 24 has been widely cited as the turning point in Boston’s season, lined a single to center to easily score Roberts for a 4-4 tie.

Pinch-hitter Doug Mientkiewicz bunted Mueller to second, and Damon reached on first baseman Tony Clark’s fielding error, Mueller advancing to third. But Rivera struck out Cabrera on three pitches, and after Ramirez walked to load the bases, Ortiz popped to second for the final out.

Closer Keith Foulke kept the Red Sox close by throwing 2 2/3 hitless innings, striking out three, but the right-hander is still looking to enter a game with a lead to protect.

Leads have been so rare for the Red Sox in this series that once they get one, they don’t seem to know what to do with it. Boston grabbed its first lead of the series in the third inning of Game 3 Saturday night and gave it right back in the fourth.

Sunday night, the Red Sox rallied for three runs in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, but the Yankees scored twice during an odd sixth-inning rally in which only one ball left the infield, Matsui’s one-out triple -- his eighth extra-base hit in four games against Boston, a major league record for any postseason series.

Francona came out to pull Lowe, and after the reluctant right-hander handed Francona the ball, he received a rousing ovation for his solid 5 1/3 -inning effort, in which he gave up three runs and six hits, struck out three and walked none.

Mike Timlin replaced him and, with the infield in, Williams tapped a bouncer toward short. But a charging Cabrera failed to make a bare-hand grab, Matsui scored to tie the game, 3-3, and Williams reached first.

Timlin walked Jorge Posada to put runners on first and second, but Williams was thrown out at third on a great play by catcher Jason Varitek, who pounced on a ball that bounced a few feet to the right of the plate and fired to Mueller for the second out.

Posada took second on the play, and Ruben Sierra reached on an infield single up the middle. Clark, subbing for injured Yankee first baseman John Olerud, followed with a grounder to the hole on the right side of the infield, and second baseman Mark Bellhorn dived to knock the ball down.

Bellhorn, who is one for 14 with eight strikeouts in the series, got up and had time to get the slow-running Clark at first, but as he tried to pick the ball up, he dropped it and had no play. Posada scored on the single for a 4-3 lead.

Rodriguez smashed a two-run homer in the third inning for New York, but Cabrera’s run-scoring single and Ortiz’s two-run single off Yankee starter Orlando Hernandez gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead in the fifth.

“This is a team that never gives up,” Ortiz said. “We’ve had a whole bunch of games where we’ve come from behind like this. We just keep playing.”