Red Sox to meet rival Rays in ALCS

Jason Bay continues to bring Red Sox fans out of their seats, much the way his predecessor did during successful World Series pursuits in 2004 and 2007.

After homering twice to help Boston to a 2-0 lead in its best-of-five American League Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels, the Canadian left-fielder delivered a ground-rule double in the ninth inning of Game 4 Monday night.

Then, with two out, the Trail, B.C., native scored with a headfirst slide on Jed Lowrie's single to give Boston a 3-2 win and three games to one series victory, keeping the team's World Series hopes alive.

"The only thing I'm thinking is, 'Get a good jump and don't fall down around third [base],"' Bay said. "I can't imagine that it'll get more intense than this, but it will."

Boston swept the Angels in the 2004 and 2007 division series on the way to a pair of World Series titles.

But in order to have a chance to taste champagne later this month, the Red Sox must first go through the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays, who rode two B.J. Upton home runs to a 6-2 defeat of the Chicago White Sox earlier Monday night to clinch their first playoff series victory in franchise history.

The Rays took 10 of 18 meetings against Boston in the regular season, including eight of nine at home, where they will open the AL Championship Series on Friday at 8:37 p.m. ET.

The league's youngest team, Tampa Bay had never finished better than last in the division and posted the worst record in baseball last year while Boston, one of the league's charter members, was winning its seventh championship. But in just 11 years, the Rays and Red Sox have become fierce rivals, with the latest bench-clearing brawl coming at Fenway Park in June.

"I can't wait to get it going," Boston right-hander Josh Beckett said. "But we've got a few days off to enjoy this."

Bay on torrid pace

Bay, who hit .293 and drove in 37 runs in 48 games after being acquired from Pittsburgh in a three-team trade on July 31 that saw former Red Sox left-fielder Manny Ramirez dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers, left his fingerprints all over the first-round series.

In addition to the home runs and ninth-inning heroics Monday, he threw out Angels centre-fielder Torii Hunter, who tried to stretch a single into a double in the top of the ninth of Game 3 Sunday with the game tied 4-4.

In Game 4, he came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning after Angels reliever Scot Shields had struck out J.D. Drew. With two out, Bay lifted a 1-1 fastball down the line past the outstretched glove of hard-charging right-fielder Reggie Willits, who watched the ball bounce into the stands.

Two batters later, Bay crossed the plate with Boston's 18th run of the series, 14 of which were scored with two out.

The Angels, on the other hand, struggled mightily throughout the series with runners in scoring position and two out, but Hunter did give them hope Monday with a two-run double in the eighth inning to erase a 2-0 deficit.

But a ninth-inning gamble that resulted in Willits being tagged out by Boston catcher Jason Varitek as he retreated to third base on a botched suicide squeeze, gave the Red Sox a chance to oust Los Angeles in a first-round playoff series for the third time in five years, and they capitalized.

"He's our anchor," Bay said about Varitek. "The way he ran Reggie down, he's a fast runner. That speaks volumes."

On the mound, Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester blanked the Angels over seven innings Monday and has yet to allow an earned run in 14 frames in these playoffs.

He retired the leadoff hitter in each inning of Game 3 and set down the final eight Angels he faced, handing over a 2-0 lead to the Red Sox bullpen. Lester entered Monday's contest with a 16-1 record this season when given a two-run advantage.

Bullpen coughs up 2-run lead

But rookie right-hander Justin Masterson couldn't protect the lead in the eighth inning, following up Hideki Okajima's two-out walk to Mark Teixeira with a free pass to Vladimir Guerrero.

With Hunter at the plate, Varitek was charged with a passed ball that allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Hunter then delivered his fifth hit of the series in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, a line shot to right field to tie the game 2-2.

Shaky defensive play hurt Los Angeles for a consecutive night as second baseman Howie Kendrick's miscue on a potential double-play ball in the fifth inning led to a pair of runs against Angels starter John Lackey, who went pitch-for-pitch with Lester in the first four frames.

Mark Kotsay singled to open the inning and moved to third base on Varitek's one-out base hit to right field. With runners at first and third and one out, Lackey appeared to have pitched out of trouble but Kendrick bobbled a slow grounder off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury and had to settle for the out at first.

The next batter, Dustin Pedroia, drilled a hanging breaking ball off the Green Monster in left field for a double, his first hit of the series to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

Manny Delcarmen, the fourth Red Sox pitcher of the night, got two outs in the ninth for the win, while Shields took the loss, allowing two hits and a run while striking out three in 1 2/3 innings

"Those guys have certainly, in the last three series that we've been involved with them, they've beaten us," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I thought we played much better this series than going back to '04 or '07 against them. It's naturally disappointing. But we're going to have to keep trying to get better. That's all we can do."

Prior to Monday's game, the Red Sox scratched third baseman Mike Lowell with a strain and torn labrum in his right hip. He is ineligible to play in the ALCS.

Lowell, who went hitless in eight at-bats in Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS, was replaced on the active roster by infielder Gil Velazquez, who made his major league debut on Sept. 25.