Timlin walked the first batter, Dioner Navarro, then went to 3 and 0 against Ben Zobrist (the third pitch drawing an ejection from pitching coach John Farrell, who argued the call). Zobrist, like Farrell, walked. Soon, Timlin was pitching to B.J. Upton with one out and the bases loaded.
And Upton delivered, the celebration of 34,904 at Tropicana Field erupting, after he lofted a sacrifice fly to right fielder J.D. Drew along the foul line, Drew's throw up the third-base line as pinch runner Fernando Perez scored to give the Rays a 9-8 victory.
"I'm the one that messed it up," said Timlin, who said he was "nervous" not having pitched in 13 days. "We should have won that game, I believe, a few times. They probably believe the same thing. It came down to the last hitter, last pitcher."
For Drew, the throw on the shallow fly ball was not easy, especially for a player who has a sore shoulder from being hit by a pitch there the night before. "More than anything, the grip I had on the ball wasn't the best, I was trying to get rid of it so fast," he said.
With a horrendous start from Josh Beckett and a poor finish from Timlin, the Sox head north with a split in the first two games of the American League Championship Series, back to Boston now even, having wrested home-field advantage from the Rays.
"We're not frustrated," Timlin said. "You come down to somebody else's place and you split, we're still looking pretty good."
Even so, it was astonishing to have gone from 14 runs in the first five innings to two runs over the next five, both by the Sox. Seven home runs mashed turned to a whisper as stretched-thin bullpens worked overtime. Not that the Sox didn't have their chances, stranding 13 runners.
Both teams had their chances because neither starter was particularly effective. Neither was effective at all.
For Beckett, it was the second straight start in which that has happened. And as the home runs flew over the fence, 15 rows deep in left, or by the foul pole in left, or over the wall to straightaway center, the game began to have a 2006 feel to it, the year Beckett allowed 36 homers. But the key appears likely to be what happened at the end of the regular season. That was when Beckett had the side session that threw his postseason infallibility out of whack.
