October 17, 2008 ALCS over? Not so fast Play video

(Mike Giardi, NECN) - They were dead in the water. It seemed nothing could light a fire under this Red Sox team in Game 5 of the ALCS. That is, through 6.2 innings of play.

The Tampa Bay Rays touched up starter Daisuke Matsuzaka for five runs through four innings, continuing their offensive roll from Game 4.

Home runs from BJ Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena did the damage early for the Rays, and a 7th inning RBI double by Upton seemingly put the game out of reach with the score at 7-0.

But why would manager Terry Francona put closer Jonathan Papelbon on the mound in the 7th with the Sox behind by five runs? Because of what happened in the bottom of that inning. After allowing two inherited runners to score, Papelbon put the Rays offense to bed and let the Sox bats get to work.

With two outs and Jed Lowrie standing on second base and Coco Crisp on first, Dustin Pedroia dropped a single into right field, scoring Lowrie. One run -- not bad. But the Sox had a long way to go if they wanted to tie things up.

Then David Ortiz stepped to the plate, mired in a huge power slump in postseason play. Ortiz promptly deposited Grant Balfour's 1-0 offering into the seats in right field, giving the Red Sox

Papelbon shut down the Rays in the 8th, setting them down 1-2-3, with two strikeouts along the way.

Jason Bay drew a leadoff walk against reliever Dan Wheeler, the team's de facto closer and a Rhode Island native.

That walk was followed by a home run off the bat of JD Drew, the man who has gained a knack for hitting the big fly in crucial situations in the month of October.

With the Sox down 7-6, the tone in the Rays dugout changed -- suddenly the Boston squad was brought back to life.

After recording two outs, midseason pickup Mark Kotsay doubled to left center off the glove of an outstretched Upton. That brought Coco Crisp to the plate.

Crisp fought off pitches left and right, until he finally go the pitch he wanted, driving a single into right field. Kotsay scored to tie the game at 7 apiece.

Rookie Justin Masterson entered in the top of the 9th to relieve Papelbon. With runners on first and second and one out, Masterson induced an inning ending 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Pena, who had hit into only two double plays all season.

Lefty JP Howell relieved Wheeler to begin the bottom of the 9th, and he was effective early, getting Pedroia to groundout and Ortiz to strikeout swinging.

Kevin Youkilis then hit a slow chopper to third base, which Longoria fielded cleanly, and managed to throw into the stands off a bounce. The throwing error put Youkilis in scoring position at second base. And with two outs and a lefty in Drew on deck, Howell intentionally walked Bay.

In a patient at bat, Drew finally saw a pitch he liked on a 3-1 count and drilled a liner over the head of Rays right fielder Gabe Gross. The ball bounced into the bullpen for a ground rule double, and Youkilis scored from first to win the game 8-7 in favor of the Sox and put the series at a 3-2 Tampa lead.

Game 6 will be played on Saturday night in St. Petersburg.