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ALCS: Matsuzaka Carries a No-Hitter Into Seventh Inning to Lift Red Sox
Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria, left, stands by as shortstop Jason Bartlett catches a pop-up off the bat of Jason Varitek during seventh-inning action at Tropicana Field.
(By Hans Deryk -- Reuters)
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"I had a tough time getting going," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter.
Presumably, someone said something to him between innings -- tongue-lashings typically require no translation -- because he was a different pitcher from then on, beginning with a three-strike dismissal of Dioner Navarro to open the second. From the second through the sixth inning, Matsuzaka needed only 16, 16, 10, 10 and 10 pitches.
"He went against his norm," Floyd said. "He usually pitches backward [by throwing breaking and off-speed pitches early in the count], but he went to his fastball. We hadn't seen that from him before."
Matsuzaka still had a no-hitter entering the seventh, and more importantly a 1-0 lead, but Crawford drilled a single into right field -- at which point Larsen, whose 1956 perfect game remains the only no-hitter in postseason history, breathed a sigh of relief -- and moved to third on Floyd's single to left-center.
With double-barreled action in the Red Sox' bullpen, Manager Terry Francona not only stuck with Matsuzaka -- who wiggled out of the jam on a shallow fly ball, a strikeout and a harmless grounder to short -- but also sent him back out for the eighth having already thrown 107 pitches.
Two batters in, the Rays had runners at first and second after a pair of well-struck singles, and Francona finally yanked his starter. Lefty Hideki Okajima entered to retire Carlos Peña on a fly ball to shallow right -- on a 3-0 pitch -- and rookie right-hander Justin Masterson coaxed Evan Longoria into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double-play, the first turned by the Red Sox this postseason.
Matsuzaka had not only survived; he had delivered a big October victory. You can forgive a lot of tedious midseason performances and a lot of needlessly messy innings for that.
