What should have been a pitcher’s duel quickly turned into a bullpen’s duel, and for once, the underdog prevailed. For as impotent as the Tampa Bay Rays were on Friday night (Carl Crawford on 3rd in the 7th with none out and you can’t get him home? Really?), Tampa’s offense took saved them tonight as they outlasted the Boston Red Sox, 9-8. While the Rays scored eight runs in the first six innings, those runs were largely in response to Sox offensives, as the game wasn’t anywhere close to won until an 11th inning sacrifice fly by BJ Upton plated the winning run.

The first half of the game was marked with a rash of solo shots, three on both sides, but when the bullpens buckled down, runs became much harder to come by.  An 8-6 lead for the Rays in the 6th was whittled down to an 8-8 tie by the eight inning, and neither team could plate a run in the next few innings.

By the 11th inning, both bullpens were in serious trouble, even with the Rays leaning on 3 1/3 scoreless innings from Dan Wheeler. Neither starter lasted more than 4 1/3 innings, where 13 of the night’s 17 runs were given up. Hardly the expected outcome when Josh Beckett and Scott Kazmir take the mound in the postseason, but that’s where we are and this is what happened.

The decisive inning was the bottom of the 11th, as Mike Timlin, one of the most reliable relievers of our era, started the frame off by walking Dioner Navarro. That sentence alone has caused all Sox fans’ heads to explode. Timlin then walked the next batter (someone or something named Brett Zobrist), forced a fielder’s choice that put runners at second and third, then gave up the fatal sac fly that tied the series going into Boston. Timlin’s final line: 2/3 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 1 R. Oh, and 1 L. Losing without giving up a hit is every bit as painful as you imagine it would be, so if you need Mike Timlin, he’ll be in the BDSM room, punishing himself within an inch of his life. You would too.

Needless to say, this is one hell of a win for the Rays, who prevailed despite spending five straight innings without scoring a run, which doesn’t often happen in the playoffs. You might think we’d provide a number for how often, in fact, that situation happens, but you’d have to really underestimate our laziness here.

Game 3 moves back to Boston, and the Rays need to steal at least one in Fenway, otherwise we’re looking at an absoute cakewalk for the Red Sox against (in all likelihood) a tepid-at-best Phillies squad. Boston may be the dominant baseball franchise of the late oughts, but they’ll need to earn it this October against a more-than-feisty Rays squad.