Josh Beckett, blocking out everything but Jason Varitek’s target, dominated the Cleveland Indians for the second time and Manny Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run with a 390-foot single as the Red Sox stayed alive in the American League Championship Series with a 7-1 win Thursday night in Game 5.
Kevin Youkilis set the tone with a first-inning homer off C.C. Sabathia. The Red Sox, trailing 3-2, sent the best-of-seven series back to Fenway Park. They forced a Game 6 on Saturday night and will start one of October’s brightest stars, Curt Schilling, who has a 9-3 record in 17 career postseason starts, against Fausto Carmona.
Beckett, a calm, cool and cocky 20-game winner, ignored a shrilling crowd and some chirping from Indians outfielder Kenny Lofton to deny Cleveland fans a chance to see their first pennant-clinching win at home.
The 27-year-old Beckett, who beat Cleveland in the opener, once again came through with the stakes at their highest.
The right-hander allowed only a run in the first and five total hits in eight innings. He struck out 11, walked one and was around the plate with almost every one of his 109 pitches.
The Indians missed a chance to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1997, and will have to find a way to avoid being the latest Cleveland team to come close but not win it all.
Cleveland, which hasn’t won the Series since 1948, had won three straight to seemingly take control. But the Indians could do little against Beckett, who rarely shook off a sign from Varitek and kept hitters guessing with a rocket fastball and a knee-buckling curve.
Even the Indians’ rock-solid bullpen cracked for the first time. Boston added three runs in the eighth on three walks, a throwing error by reliever Rafael Perez, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly.
With so much on the line, both teams were on edge and tempers flared briefly in the fifth when Beckett and Lofton screamed at each other.
Cleveland’s outfielder had flipped his bat to the ground after what he thought was ball four. And when Beckett retired him on a fly ball to left, the pair exchanged words as both benches and bullpens spilled out.
No punches were thrown, and if Lofton was trying to rattle Beckett, he failed.
Beckett struck out Franklin Gutierrez looking before Casey Blake singled and went to third when Grady Sizemore’s bouncer squirted through. But Beckett fanned Asdrubal Cabrera on three pitches.
For Sabathia, the Indians’ ace, it was more disappointment. He allowed four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings, his third straight sub-par performance this month.
Sabathia was angry with himself following Game 1 for not being more aggressive with Boston’s hitters, and when he couldn’t put David Ortiz away with two outs in the third, Ramirez made him pay.
Ramirez sent Sabathia’s first pitch to center, where Sizemore went back to the wall. But as he reached up, Ramirez’s shot caromed back onto the field.
Ortiz scored easily, but Ramirez, thinking his shot was long gone, was only rounding first when the Indians retrieved the ball. Boston manager Terry Francona argued it should have been a two-run homer, but after a brief meeting, the umpires kept Ramirez at first.
Slow-motion TV replays were inconclusive, and the ground rules at Jacobs Field state that a ball must completely clear the yellow line at the top of the wall for it to be a homer.
The Indians had scored first in their previous six games, but this time the Red Sox beat them to the punch.
With one out, Youkilis ripped a 1-0 pitch from Sabathia over the wall in left to make it 1-0. One out later, Ramirez doubled to left-center, giving him a hit in 15 straight championship series games, tying Pete Rose’s record.
Never to be confused with Charlie Hustle otherwise, Ramirez was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on Mike Lowell’s single to right.
The Red Sox went up 4-1 and chased Sabathia in the seventh. Dustin Pedroia doubled and scored when Youkilis tripled off the glove of a diving Sizemore. The shot ended Sabathia’s night, and the big lefty walked dejectedly to the dugout knowing he had missed a chance to get the Indians back to the Series.
