So how many people had Rays back-up catcher Jose Lobaton, who entered the game because Joe Maddon lost his DH and double switched, hitting a walk-off home run off Koji Uehara?

The Rays survived their fourth elimination game in eight days with a 5-4 win over the Red Sox on Monday. Game four of the series will be played Tuesday night at the sorry excuse for a ballpark known as Tropicana Field.

John Farrell Had A Bad Night

Farrell’s roster management in the eighth inning confounds the mind:

*Farrell inserted Quintin Berry into the game to pinch-run for David Ortiz after he walked to lead off the frame. Berry successfully stole second base, making him 27-27 in career stolen base attempts (regular season and playoffs).

*With a man on second base and one out, Maddon opted to have left-hander Jake McGee walk pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stephen Drew were due to hit next in the inning, and both have struggled against left-handed pitching this season.

*With Farrell opting to pinch-run Berry for Ortiz, it seemed as if he was trying to win the game right then and there. There is no other reason to take the team’s best hitter out of the game with a tie score. But yet, Xander Bogaerts remained on the bench as Saltalamacchia and Drew were both retired to end the scoring threat. Bogaerts entered the game as a pinch-runner for Will Middlebrooks in the ninth inning.

*In the bottom of the eighth inning, with two men on and one out, Farrell elected to have Brandon Workman pitch out of the bullpen instead of Uehara. Workman allowed an infield single up the middle to Yunel Escobar, which loaded the bases, and then an RBI groundout to pinch-hitter Delmon Young. It is understandable that Farrell wanted to save Uehara for the ninth or extra-innings. But there is no reason to take Ortiz out of the game if he was playing for extras. Leave the best hitter in the lineup.

Maddon’s Odd Decision Payed Off

Wil Myers, after striking out swinging with a man in scoring position in the seventh inning to remain hitless in the series, was removed from the game due to injury in the top of the eighth. Maddon then put his DH, Matt Joyce, into right field and lost the DH position in the lineup. (If that’s not an indictment on Young’s defense, then nothing is.)

In the bottom of the eighth, Maddon pinch-ran Sam Fuld for first baseman James Loney, and pinch-hit Young for catcher Jose Molina. This allowed him to shift left fielder Sean Rodriguez to first base, Lobaton to catcher, Fuld to right field and Joyce to left field for the top of the ninth.

Uehara retired both Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria to begin the bottom of the ninth, and the fifth spot in the batting order (which became the pitcher’s spot after Myers left the game and Joyce went into the outfield) was due up. Lobaton replaced the pitcher in the lineup when he entered the game in the top of the ninth to play catcher, and stepped up to face Uehara with the score tied at four. He blasted a walk-off home run to deep center field, which was the first home run Uehara has allowed since June 30.

Indeed. In fact, the catwalk ground rules may be easier to understand than that whole sequence.

    • Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks, lights or suspended objects in fair territory: HOME RUN.
    • Batted ball that is not judged a home run and remains on a catwalk, light or suspended object: TWO BASES.
    • Batted ball that is not judged a home run and strikes a catwalk, light or suspended object in fair territory shall be judged fair or foul in relation to where it strikes the ground or is touched by a fielder. If caught by fielder, batter is out and runners advance at own risk.
  • Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over foul territory: DEAD BALL

Okay, maybe not.

Red Sox Got “Out Trop’d”

Joe Maddon said his team got “out Fenway’d” in games one and two at Fenway Park. So it’s appropriate that the Red Sox got “out Trop’d” in the fourth inning of Monday’s game.

Ben Zobrist hit a foul pop-up that Jarrod Saltalamacchia caught. In a normal baseball stadium, it would’ve been the first out of the inning. But at the temple of baseball known as Tropicana Field, the pop-up was ruled a dead ball because it hit catwalk “B” in foul territory. Zobrist wound up walking.

If the pop-up had hit catwalk “B” in fair territory, then it would have been a live ball. It’s the ol’ “catwalk B rule,” which is as much a part of baseball tradition as the Polo Grounds or the old Yankee Stadium.

That’s unlikely. What everyone does know, though, is that the ruling on Zobrist’s foul pop-up cost Clay Buchholz an extra fifteen pitches in the inning.

Gritty Effort From Buchholz

Buchholz threw 104 pitches in six innings of work, allowing seven hits and three runs.

He struck out the side after the catwalk fiasco in the fourth inning, fanning Longoria, Myers and Joyce. Longoria and Joyce struck out on changeups.

After a lengthy fifth inning, in which he allowed a game-tying three-run home run to Longoria, Buchholz came out for the sixth. He promptly retired the Rays in order, only tossing seven pitches.

Jacoby Ellsbury Showed His Value

Ellbury collected three hits, and scored two runs in the loss. He is now hitting .571 in the postseason.

He scored on Zobrist’s errant throw at second base in the first inning, and then on Alex Cobb’s wild pitch to Dustin Pedroia in the fifth. (Granted, Ellsbury should’ve slid into third base on Shane Victorino’s grounder to deep shortstop, but that’s semantics.)

Ellsbury gives the Red Sox lineup a dynamic dimension at the top, and is needed on a team littered with base cloggers. His value past this season can be debated, but his value to this year’s team is non-negotiable. Ellsbury’s shown why his presence is a necessity if the Red Sox are to make a deep playoff run in the first three games of this series.

Photos via Brian Blanco/Getty Images, FanGraphs and CSN Bay Area

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