The Red Sox defeated the Cardinals by a score of 4-2 on Sunday night, and have evened up the series at two games a piece.

Jonny Gomes, who was inserted into the lineup roughly 90 minutes before game time, smashed a game-leading three-run in the sixth inning off reliever Seth Maness. It was Gomes’ first hit of the series.

Clay Buchholz’s fastball seldom topped 90 mph, but he grinded through four innings of one-run ball. Felix Doubront pitched for the second consecutive night, and retired eight of the nine batters he faced out of the bullpen. John Lackey and Koji Uehara threw scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the victory. The game ended when Uehara picked off pinch-runner Kolten Wong at first base with the tying run, Carlos Beltran, up at bat.

Gomes Is Driving The Bus

The Red Sox have had a knack this postseason for coming through when one would least expect them to. David Ortiz was 0-6 in the ALCS before he hit the go-ahead grand slam in Game 2. Shane Victorino was 2-23 in the ALCS until he hit the game-winning grand slam in Game 6. Gomes was 0-9 in the World Series before belting his three-run home run in Game 4.

After starting Gomes in left field for Games 1 and 2 at Fenway Park, Farrell benched him in-favor of Daniel Nava for Game 3. Gomes was going to sit again for Game 4, but Victorino was scratched from the lineup less than two hours before game time because of a bad back. Farrell started Gomes in left field, and Nava moved to right field.

Gomes is a career .244 hitter who strikes out a lot and plays bad adventurous defense. Prior to Sunday night, he was 5-40 at the plate in his postseason career. But yet, he’s been on playoff teams for three consecutive seasons and was one of the first players who the Red Sox signed last winter to change the team’s culture.

Those who don’t watch Gomes every day can’t appreciate what he brings to a team. In his case, intangibles do matter.

Shoutout To Big Papi

Ortiz reached base in all four of his plate appearances on Sunday night, and is now batting a cool .727 in the World Series. He’s one of the greatest postseason performers of all time, and his performance against the Cardinals thus far has only added to his legacy.

Perhaps the most fascinating unknown to come out of the game is what Ortiz said to his teammates in the dugout prior to the sixth inning. FOX showed the clip of Ortiz performing an impassioned speech, but didn’t record any of the audio. But, one can imagine it probably sounded something like this…

Blood. Sweat. Beards. Papi.

One Mistake After Another

The Cardinals inability to field a ground ball or catch a pop-up sunk them in Game 1. Craig Breslow’s errant throw to third base cost the Red Sox in Game 2. Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s lousy throw to third base led to an obstruction call ended Game 3. So, it’s only appropriate that Game 4 ended with another colossal mistake.

Wong may have been channeling his teammate, Matt Holliday, who the Red Sox also picked off at first base in the 2007 World Series. There was no reason for Wong to be leading that far off the bag in a two-run game. He committed one of baseball’s cardinal sins.

Beltran has 16 career postseason home runs, and represented the tying run at the plate. He never got the opportunity to take the bat off his shoulders. (Insert video of Beltran striking out looking for the final out of Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS here:)

Uehara recorded his sixth save of the postseason. Remember when everyone wanted to trade for Jonathan Papelbon in July?

Buchholz Deserves An Apology From Every Talk Radio Caller Ever

Everyone owes Buchholz an apology. He’s legitimately hurt, as evidenced by his decrease in velocity. The notion that a professional baseball player would ask out of a WORLD SERIES GAME because he “just doesn’t want it” is asinine.

Buchholz “wanted it” alright, and held the Cardinals to one run over four gritty innings. His fastball sat in the upper 80s, and he was slow to the plate. Every pitch required his utmost effort.

But he did it. Buchholz stymied the best offense in the National League for four innings, and kept the Red Sox in a position to win the game. Bravo.

Doubront Came Up Big

It’s hard to believe that Doubront thought “the bullpen may not be for him” only one month ago. Doubront was dynamite in Game 4, throwing two and two-third spectacular innings of relief for Buchholz. He was charged with one run after Craig Breslow allowed an RBI single to Matt Carpenter in the seventh inning.

After pitching four and two-third innings over the past two days, it’s hard to imagine that Doubront would be available for Game 5 on Monday night. But with Breslow’s recent struggles (8.6 walks per nine innings in the postseason), he could be called upon for late inning duty in Game 6 on Wednesday.

Lackey pitched in relief for the first time since 2004, rebounding after a Xander Bogaerts throwing error to shut the Cardinals down in the eighth inning. This time of year is about everyone stepping up. Doubront and Lackey certainly did in Game 4.

Looking Ahead

This is now essentially a best-of-three series, with Jon Lester scheduled to oppose Adam Wainwright in Game 5. After a rough first two innings in Game 1, Wainwright settled down and threw three scoreless frames to conclude his outing last Wednesday night.

Farrell has had David Ross catch Lester throughout the playoffs, and that trend should continue on Monday. Despite some shoddy defense at third base in Game 4, Bogaerts should be back in there as well.

Stephen Drew may have shown some signs of breaking out of his historically bad slump in Game 4, as he went 1-3 and lofted a sac fly. Still, 5-47 is 5-47. Not good.

Victorino hasn’t been good at the plate in the postseason either, but it will be interesting to see if the Red Sox value his defense enough to place him in the lineup even if they don’t expect much from him offensively. The team has struggled defensively, as they’ve committed at least one error in all four games.

With the some members of the lineup still struggling, Victorino shouldn’t start unless he can have competitive at-bats. He can always be subbed in for defensive purposes later.

Farrell announced after the game Ortiz will start at first base for the third consecutive day in Game 5. It’s hard to bench a guy who’s hitting better than .700.

Images and GIFs via Robb Carr/Getty Images, Ron Vesely/Getty Images, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, L.G. Patterson/MLB.com, @BuzzFeedSports and SB Nation

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