Ortiz, Red Sox top Rays

Published 1:51 am Monday, October 7, 2013

BOSTON (AP) — David Ortiz homered twice, the second shot chasing David Price in the eighth inning on Saturday night, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the AL division series.

It was the first two-homer postseason game for the Red Sox designated hitter. Ortiz was a star for the 2004 Boston team that won the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years and is the only player remaining from that team.

Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits and scored three runs for the AL East champions.

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Starter John Lackey went 5.1 innings to get the win. He gave up seven hits, four earned runs, struck out six and walked four.

Koji Uehara struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth to record the save.

The Rays will need a victory in Game 3 on Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla., to avoid a sweep in the best-of-five series. They won three win-or-go-home games this week just to reach this round, including Price’s complete game in the tiebreaker against Texas to determine the second AL wild-card team.