Jonathan Papelbon thought the turning point was the bottom of the eighth, while "Sweet Caroline" was playing and news of the Bruins' win over Montreal was flashed on the board.
"You could just sense that Boston fever from the crowd," said Papelbon. "City of Champions. Right there, something special happened."
Maybe it was that the Red Sox got some adrenaline at that moment. Papelbon, who saved the 5-3 win over Texas last night, said he felt it when he came on in the ninth.
The important thing is that Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramírez felt it in the bottom of the eighth, when Ramírez sent a shot off Joaquin Benoit over the Monster, over the Boston skyline, his sixth homer of the season. The two- run blast, which scored Ortiz ahead of him, was the 496th of Ramirez's career, and the crowd of 37,598 record - a post-World War II record for Fenway - went crazy again.
As the late Ned Martin would have uttered, "Mercy!"
It capped a night on which the most elite 3-4 punch in the game - Ortiz and Ramírez - were clicking at the same time. When that happens, there's no hope for the Joaquin Benoits of the world.
With the Sox trailing, 3-2, in the eighth, Ortiz - frustrated so long by the shifts teams impose on him - busted the shift with a scorching ball that Ian Kinsler couldn't handle in short right-center, and it scored Pedroia to tie it.
"He's gonna come through," Ramírez told Sox broadcasters Joe Castiglione and Dave O'Brien about Ortiz. "If he doesn't hit, I'll hit for him."
The rally was made possible by Pedroia's one-out double off the Wall. Ortiz, who was hitting .111 (7 for 63) before busting out Friday night with a third-inning grand slam, appears to be making his way back to Big Papi status. With first base open, Texas manager Ron Washington pitched to him, not wanting to see Ramírez with two base runners.
"All of Manny's swings look like some of the best swings I've ever seen," said Pedroia. "Every at-bat is a quality at-bat."
Pedroia's shot to the Wall was hit into the wind.
"I didn't know if I hit it well enough to get it over with the wind blowing in, but I thought I made the Wall," he said.
This was Jon Lester's second-longest outing in five starts and a great improvement over his last start, in which he went 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and five walks against Cleveland April 14 (a 6-4 Boston win), and the one April 9, when he lasted 5 1/3 and gave up four runs and four walks in a 7-2 loss to Detroit.
OK, John Farrell and Terry Francona could have done without the 10 hits the Rangers pounded, but at least Lester reduced his walk total to two after walking 15 in his first four starts.
