OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- With their season on the line, the Boston Red Sox got the ultimate relief effort from one their starters.
Derek Lowe struck out pinch hitter Terrence Long with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Red Sox edged the Oakland Athletics, 4-3, in the dramatic fifth game of their American League Division Series.
Lowe escaped the ultimate ninth-inning jam and enabled Boston to become just the seventh team ever to erase a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five postseason series. With the draining victory, Boston advances to face the rival New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
"Pitching is pitching," Lowe said. "I don't care if you start the game, relieve or close. The situation came about where they asked me to close out the game. ... I'm just happy to get an opportunity and help the team win."
For Oakland it was possibly the most emotionally devastating of its four consecutive five-game, first-round postseason exits. The last two times a team has blown a 2-0 series lead, it has been Oakland that has achieved the dubious distinction.
The loss also marked the ninth consecutive time the A's have failed to close out an opponent in Division Series play - a major league record.
"I'm proud of our guys," Oakland manager Ken Macha said. "We battled these guys tremendously. It is just a shame that someone has to lose."
In his first year, Macha was able to put the epic nature of the five games - two of which were decided in extra innings and the other three settled by a total of six runs.
"They are five great games," he said. "Five great games. It was a tremendous series. They played well. Tonight's ballgame was pretty good."
Boston took a 4-1 lead on a three-run homer by Manny Ramirez in the sixth but was clinging to a one-run cushion entering the ninth. Scott Williamson, one of the heroes of the previous two games, entered and immediately ran into trouble by walking Scott Hatteberg and Jose Guillen.
Boston manager Grady Little called on his one-time closer and current starter Lowe, but Ramon Hernandez got down a bunt that moved the tying run to third base and the winning run to second. Macha made a questionable call by sending Adam Melhuse to the plate for veteran Jermaine Dye. Little countered with an even more daring call, bringing the infield in.
But Lowe stepped up and caught Melhuse looking at a nasty 2-2 pitch. Chris Singleton walked on a 3-2 pitch, intensifying the drama. After getting ahead of Long, Lowe threw another filthy pitch on 1-2 and caught the A's veteran looking.
Lowe fired his fist in the air - a gesture some A's found offensive - as the Red Sox charged the mound.
"This time of year, you pitch on adrenaline," Lowe said. "It comes down to execution, can you make the pitch or not, and I was able to make two of them."
The dramatic ending punctuated a ballgame that actually exceeded lofty expectations.
With a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, the game figured to be a tight affair. Boston's Pedro Martinez allowed a run in the fourth and Barry Zito was even better for Oakland, carrying a shutout into the sixth.
But Jason Varitek opened the sixth with a homer over the left field wall and Johnny Damon drew a walk. After Nomar Garciaparra fouled out, Todd Walker was hit by a pitch. Zito got ahead of Ramirez 1-2, but could not finish him off and the Boston slugger crushed his first home run of the series over the wall in left for a 4-1 lead.
"I know I had not been swinging the bat pretty good," said Ramirez, who was just 3-for-18 in the series prior to the home run. "But I have a lot of confidence in myself. All the time during that at-bat I was looking in and he gave me the fastball and I drove it to left field."
"He made some pretty good pitches to Manny," Macha said. "The guy hit a three-run homer off him. We're pretty thin down there in the bullpen ... we were going with our best guy right there."
Ramirez styled at the plate after his blast, pointing his finger toward his teammates in the dugout, and when he crossed the plate, Boston celebrated as if the game was over. Far from it.
Martinez, who cruised through the fifth, allowed a pair of doubles in the sixth to get Oakland within 4-2.
The game featured a scary moment with two outs in the top of the seventh as Damon and second baseman Damian Jackson collided in short center field. Damon was taken off the field on a stretcher, was diagnosed with a concussion and is expected to remain overnight at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
"It looks like he'll be fine," Little said. "Johnny won't be going (to New York) with us tonight. They are going to hold him for five or six hours at least. Hopefully he's fine."
Martinez started the eighth but allowed a double to Singleton and an RBI single to Billy McMillon. Little turned to his embattled bullpen and Alan Embree and Mike Timlin responded, combining to get the next three batters to preserve the one-run lead.
Boston left two aboard in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for the ninth-inning tension.
Martinez (1-0) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. He walked one, struck out six and kept Boston close until Zito tired.
"Pedro pitched his heart out," Little added. "He gave us every bit he had. We couldn't ask for any more."
Zito (1-1) surrendered four runs and four hits in six innings. Pitching on three days' rest for the first time in his career, the 25-year-old lefthander was brilliant until tiring in the sixth.
Game One of the best-of-seven ALCS is Wednesday in New York.
