With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Red Sox trailed 7-0. Jed Lowrie stood on second base after his double - only Boston's THIRD hit in the game.

So how did the Red Sox rise from the near-dead?

"I can't say the game was exciting because the first six innings we did nothing," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They had their way with us every way possible.

"And then this place came unglued, and we've seen that before."

Can we go down the list:

With Lowrie on second, Coco Crisp singles.

Dustin Pedroia singled in Lowrie.

David Ortiz goes back to his Big Papi ways and blasts a no-doubt, three-run homer to right. Right fielder Gabe Gross just turned around and watched it. 7-4

In the eighth: Jason Bay walked. Then Drew did what Ortiz did, crushed a ball that Gross only turned and watched. 7-6.

Two outs, no one on, in the bottom of the ninth: Kevin Youkilis fouls off pitch after pitch, before hitting a slow grounder to third. Evan Longoria charged it, but bounced his throw. It got by Carlos Pena and ended up in the stands. Youikilis was credited with a single, advancing to second on the throwing error.

Bay was intentionally walked so the lefty J.P. Howell could face the lefty Drew. On a 3-1 pitch, Drew sent a line drive over Gross' head, scoring Youkilis on the hit (officially ruled a single because Drew stopped after reaching first).

"Felt like I had some good at-bats," Drew said. "Was able to get a ball in the middle of the plate and put a nice swing on it (for the home run).

"And then the same thing kind of happened in that last at-bat ... I knew I hit it really well."

And there was a question whether Drew's bad back would hold up in the playoffs.

"I think we're thrilled that he's playing," Francona said. "But the more at-bats he can get, hopefully and stay healthy, the better - the more damage he can do."

Now the Rays have to re-group.

"Of course, if we had won it, we'd be in the World Series by now," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Nobody feels worse than the guys out of our bullpen right now ... I thought we played a great game.

"They just came back and beat us tonight."

Off to St. Petersburg. I got a flight to catch.

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