So the night that began with bad news ended well when Jonathan Papelbon converted his ninth straight save this season in front of 33,493 at Angel Stadium.
"Tek had a real good at-bat, got a breaking ball up, and fortunately for us it got to the wall," manager Terry Francona said. "This is a tough place, and we've been in a lot of close games here. You start seeing that [rally] monkey jumping around, not too many times good things happen. We had the lead when we needed it at the end."
"He's getting some balls, he's driving some balls, he's hit some balls to left field," Francona said of Varitek, who had squared to bunt before doubling. "I don't think his batting average is the end-all, be-all for what he's doing here. Sometimes it's when you get a hit. None were bigger than that base hit tonight."
The Sox had rallied to tie it at 3-3 with two runs in the eighth, against Jose Arredondo. One out into the inning, Boston had loaded the bases (single, single, walk), and Arredondo was walking back to the dugout, replaced by Darren Oliver. On a 1-2 pitch, Oliver hit David Ortiz on the heel of his right hand, forcing home a run to make it 3-2.
Then Bay tied the game with a grounder to first base. Mike Lowell also grounded out, though, stranding two runners.
Though Josh Beckett was sitting on the bench, not scheduled to pitch in Anaheim, there was a bit of drama with his name on it during the early going.
Sox starter Justin Masterson already had hit Maicer Izturis in the leg in the second inning, and his first pitch to Torii Hunter in his third-inning at-bat was inside. The second pitch was behind Hunter.
That led plate umpire Jim Joyce to warn both benches, even though Masterson already had demonstrated a lack of control in the game. He had walked three batters, one of which loaded the bases in the first, and hit Izturis.
