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(Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) |
It was looking bleak in the seventh inning. The Tigers had the lead, the presumptive Cy Young winner on the hill and nine defensive outs to
Justin Verlander in Game Seven. Then
Jonny Gomes doubled, rookie
Xander Bogaerts walked and former Sox shortstop
Joe Iglesias made a rare error. With the bases loaded and one out, on an 0-2 count, the slumping
Shane Victorino sent a hanging curveball into the Monster Seats and suddenly Boston had a 5-2 lead.
Craig Breslow had a shutdown eighth and ALCS MVP
Koji Uehara did the job again and with
the 5-2 win,
The Carmine Hose were World Series bound for third time in 10 years. Boston took the early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by
Jacoby Ellsbury—after Bogaerts had doubled high off the left-center filed wall.
Max Scherzer and
Clay Buchholz dueled into the sixth, but Buchholz ran out of gas.
Franklin Morales (an odd choice by
John Farrell) came in and yielded two runs. That's how it stayed until Victorino's blast. Boston will open their try for an eighth World Series Championship on Wednesday night at Fenway against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.