Kike Hernandez delivered a series-clinching sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th inning on Monday night, lifting the Wild-Card entry Boston Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, and a 3-1 series win in the American League Division Series.
After losing the opener at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox stormed back to take three straight games from their AL East rivals, advancing to play either Houston or Chicago in the Best-of-7 American League Championship Series.
On Sunday night, the Red Sox, on a two-run homer by Christian Vazquez in the bottom of the 13th inning, defeated the Rays at Fenway Park, with the back-to-back walk-off postseason wins for Boston happening for the first time since Games 4 and 5 of the historic 2004 ALCS against the Yankees.
The Red Sox became the first team to reach baseball’s “Final Four”, with Houston leading the White Sox 2-1 in the other ALDS.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves lead Milwaukee 2-1, while a 1-0 Game 3 win in Los Angeles has the Giants leading the Dodgers 2-1.
Both league championship series are scheduled to begin sometime this weekend.