It was after his second at-bat, in the fourth inning, when Ortiz, the designated hitter, walked back into the clubhouse after grounding out to third. He encountered Ellis Burks with his 9-year-old son, Christopher. Alan Embree had paid off an old bet to Burks with a pair of $50 bills. Burks handed the money to his son, who immediately dropped a fifty in the box.
"When I saw this I was ready to cry," Ortiz said. "It made me feel great. To see a young kid do that. I got excited. My mind was different after that. That changed me."
It changed him in the Red Sox' favor. Ortiz, as well as Martinez and Manny Ramirez, have been affected by the floods that have ravaged the Dominican, and their hope was that those watching the games back home could find some temporary relief from the hardship.
The Sox were down, 4-2, at the time of Ortiz's slam. His only previous grand slam in the major leagues occurred Sept. 7, 2000, off Pedro's brother, Ramon, who was pitching for the Sox when Ortiz was with the Twins. Ortiz sent the first pitch from Seattle starter Joel Pineiro in the at-bat high and long toward the right-field fence. The only question was would it go over or would Ichiro Suzuki rob him? The answer soon came, and Martinez was handed a 6-4 lead.
"It was pretty high," said Martinez. "But I was glad to see Ichiro actually not coming out with it. He tried and he was close."
"I thought I hit it pretty good," said Ortiz of his 11th homer of the season. "That was one for Petey and one for Ramon."
The Sox scored five runs in the inning as back-to-back doubles by Kevin Millar and Kevin Youkilis cut the gap to 4-2. With two outs, Pineiro made the mistake of walking Johnny Damon and Mark Bellhorn, setting the stage for Ortiz.
