ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jose Lobaton hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays staved off elimination once again, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-4 Monday night.
The Rays cut Boston’s lead in the best-of-five AL division series to 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday night, with Jake Peavy starting for the Red Sox against Jeremy Hellickson.
Tampa Bay took a win-or-go-home game for the fourth time in nine days. The Rays did it with an unlikely stroke as Lobaton, who came off the bench late in the game, connected against Red Sox closer Koji Uehara.
Lobaton’s shot wound up in the giant fish tank beyond the wall at Tropicana Field.
Evan Longoria’s two-out, three-run homer in the fifth off Clay Buchholz rallied the Rays to a 3-all tie.
Delmon Young, who has a penchant for driving home key runs in October, put Tampa Bay ahead 4-3 with an RBI grounder in the eighth.
The Red Sox tied it in the ninth against Rays closer Fernando Rodney. Dustin Pedroia’s RBI grounder made it 4-all.
Rodney got the win when Lobaton homered to right-center field.
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