Monster mashed

BOSTON -- The Angels and the Boston Red Sox played deep into a balmy New England evening, sparring for so long that Friday night turned into Saturday morning, until Manny Ramirez put an end to the proceedings with a devastating blow that sent the Angels to the brink of playoff elimination.

With two on, two out and the score tied in the ninth inning, Ramirez crushed a Francisco Rodriguez fastball past the giant Coke bottles attached to a light tower high above the Green Monster in left field, giving the Red Sox a dramatic 6-3 victory in raucous Fenway Park.

Ramirez’s three-run homer was the ninth walk-off hit, and fifth walk-off home run, in Boston’s postseason history and gave the Red Sox a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League division series, which resumes Sunday in Angel Stadium.

The moment the ball left Ramirez’s bat, at 12:44 a.m. EDT, the slugger thrust both arms into the air. Neither he nor 37,706 fans in the old stadium, many of whom would be in danger of missing last call in the local pubs, had any doubt about it.

Ramirez circled the bases and leaped into a mob of waiting teammates at home plate, a scene that is becoming all too familiar for the Angels, who witnessed David Ortiz’s walk-off homer off Jarrod Washburn here to clinch the 2004 division series.

“They’re a good club, especially those three-four hitters,” said Angels reliever Scot Shields, who threw two scoreless innings. “It’s pick your poison, and they got us. Manny has been one of the best hitters in the league for 12 years for a reason.”

Julio Lugo led off the ninth with a single against reliever Justin Speier, and Dustin Pedroia, with Lugo running, grounded out to short. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia pulled Speier in favor of Rodriguez, who struck out Kevin Youkilis. Ortiz, the king of the walk-off hit, was walked intentionally.

Rodriguez threw a first-pitch ball. His next pitch, catcher Mike Napoli said, was supposed to be a fastball “down and away, and it went up and in.” Ramirez pulverized it. Game over.

“I can’t really say what it was, but obviously it wasn’t a good pitch,” Rodriguez said. “But that’s baseball. You have to go out and challenge them. I had no plan. I was just going to go after him. If you make a mistake, those guys are going to hurt you. Now we just have to turn the page.”

Not that easy. Since the wild-card era began in 1995, only four times has a team lost the first two games and come back to win a best-of-five series. And the Angels’ Game 3 opponent will be Curt Schilling, one of baseball’s most decorated postseason pitchers.

One thing the Angels have going for them: They had a major league-best 54-27 record at home this season. One thing going against them: They’ve lost eight consecutive postseason games to the Red Sox dating to Game 5 of the 1986 AL championship series.

Another thing possibly going against them: Slugger Vladimir Guerrero was hit in the left shoulder by a Manny Delcarmen fastball in the seventh inning Friday and was pulled in the eighth, because the discomfort was his swing.

“Naturally, this is not a desirable position, but the series isn’t wrapped up until one team wins three games,” Scioscia said. “You try to stay short focused, pitch to pitch, inning to inning, at-bat to at-bat, and we really have to get into that mode and scratch and claw our way back into the series.

“It can be done. One thing about our club, when we get into our game, we can turn around quickly. We didn’t get enough done offensively tonight, but we’ve had some opportunities and we’ve seen some good signs.”

Those good signs came early Friday, when the Angels scored three runs in the second off right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, two of them on back-to-back, run-scoring doubles by Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera, and starter Kelvim Escobar threw five decent innings, giving up three runs and four hits, one of them J.D. Drew’s two-run single in the first.

But despite applying offensive pressure most of the night, the Angels failed to capitalize enough, going two for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Garret Anderson led off the third with a double but was thrown out at third on Maicer Izturis’ grounder to short. The Angels had runners on first and third with two out in the fifth, but Kendry Morales, who singled and scored in the second, grounded out.

They had runners on second and third with two out in the eighth, but Figgins struck out looking against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who double-pumped his fist afterward.

“It’s do or die now,” Napoli said. “It’s a tough road ahead of us, but we’ve got to come back Sunday and get after it.”

Most figured home-field advantage would be a factor in this series, and it certainly was in the fifth inning. With the Red Sox trailing, 3-2, Pedroia doubled and took third on Youkilis’ tapper to the mound. The Angels intentionally walked Ortiz, putting runners on first and third for Ramirez, who popped an 0-and-1 pitch into foul territory.

Catcher Jeff Mathis raced to the photographer’s well next to the Red Sox dugout, leaped over several cameras and thrust his glove into the front row of the stands. But Danny Vinik, the 17-year-old son of Jeffrey Vinik, one of the Red Sox’s limited partners, snatched the ball out of Mathis’ glove, extending Ramirez’s at-bat.

While Vinik exchanged high-fives with surrounding fans, Ramirez worked a walk, loading the bases for Mike Lowell, who hit a sacrifice fly to center for a 3-3 tie.

Vinik’s play was reminiscent of the one made by 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier, who leaned over the right-field wall in Yankee Stadium to pull Derek Jeter’s fly ball into the bleachers, giving the Yankees a controversial game-tying home run in the 1996 AL championship series opener.

“I had a chance of making a play,” Mathis said, “and it didn’t happen.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com