ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Shane Victorino’s infield single snapped a seventh-inning tie and journeyman Craig Breslow gave Boston a huge boost out of the bullpen, sending the Red Sox into the AL championship series with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
Koji Uehara got the final four outs — one night after giving up a game-winning homer — and the Red Sox rebounded to win the best-of-five playoff 3-1.
Back in the ALCS for the first time in five years, they’ll open at home Saturday against the Athletics or Tigers. Oakland hosts Detroit in a decisive Game 5 on Thursday.
Both managers mixed and matched all night in a tense game that felt more like a chess match. Desperately trying to avoid elimination, Rays skipper Joe Maddon used nine pitchers.
Breslow relieved Boston starter Jake Peavy in the sixth and struck out his first four batters — all of them in the middle of Tampa Bay’s lineup.
The 33-year-old lefty from Yale has pitched for six teams in eight big league seasons, including two stints with Boston.
Xander Bogaerts scored the tying run on Joel Peralta’s wild pitch in the seventh and Victorino followed with an RBI infield single. Dustin Pedroia drove in Bogaerts with a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 3-1, and Uehara struck out Evan Longoria to end it.
The resilient Rays won four win-or-go-home games over the previous nine days and led 1-0 this time before Boston rallied.
David DeJesus snapped a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the sixth and Boston squandered several opportunities before finally breaking through in the seventh.
Bogaerts, pinch-hitting, drew a one-out walk and raced to third on Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out single off Jake McGee. The Rays brought on their sixth pitcher, Peralta, and the game shifted suddenly on his first pitch, which skipped in the dirt past catcher Jose Lobaton — allowing the tying run to score.
Ellsbury was stealing second on the pitch and continued to third when the ball rolled toward the backstop. Victorino beat out a slow chopper to shortstop, putting the Red Sox ahead 2-1.
Breslow pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings for the win.
Uehara earned a save, bouncing back from Lobaton’s ninth-inning homer in Game 3.
Tampa Bay won three win-or-go-home games just to get into the division series last week. Coming from behind in another elimination game Monday gave them hope of taking the series back to Fenway Park, where the Rays were outscored 19-6 in the first two games.
The trip to the ALCS will be Boston’s first since 2008, when the Red Sox lost in seven games to Tampa Bay.