MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013 SPORTS

Red Sox tame Tigers to Photo of the day advance to World Series BOSTON: When Shane Victorino signed on Saturday as he did for much of the sea- with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in son. the offseason, they were coming off a last- “Since the first day of spring training, place finish that was their worst in almost there wasn’t one person more important half a century. They had fired their manager than the next,” said outfielder Jonny for the second year in a row. He believed Gomes, another newcomer, who doubled they could turn it around. And quickly. to lead off the seventh, missing a homer Victorino brought the Red Sox one big over the Green Monster by no more than a step closer to completing their comeback, foot. “We’re all pulling in the same direc- sending them to the World Series with a tion.” seventh-inning grand slam that gave Scherzer got one out in the seventh but Boston a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers left after walking rookie Xander Bogaerts to in Game 6 of the AL championship series put runners on first and second. Drew Saturday night. Smyly got Jacoby Ellsbury to hit a grounder The Red Sox will open the Series on up the middle, but it popped out of Iglesias’ Wednesday night against the St. Louis glove behind second base and everyone Cardinals, the team they swept in 2004 to was safe. end their 86-year title drought. The Veras came in and quickly got ahead of Cardinals won the NL pennant on Friday Victorino. But he hung a curveball and night by eliminating the Los Angeles Victorino sent it toward the 37-foot left- Dodgers in six games. field wall, which had already knocked “It’s one of those moments you live for,” down two Red Sox line drives. Victorino said as he wandered around the This one left no doubt. It was the second Fenway Park infield while Red Sox fans ser- career postseason slam for Victorino, who enaded him with his theme song, Bob also had a record-setting hit-by-pitch in the Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” and its chorus, sixth but failed to get a bunt down in the “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every lit- third. tle thing is gonna be all right.” “He’s come up big a number of times “Just listen to the crowd,” Victorino said, this season, none bigger,” Farrell said. referring then to the Boston Marathon “Probably the last thing we’re thinking of, bombings that left the city reeling during that he’s going to hit a ball out of the ball- the first month of his first season in town. park, and thankfully the curveball stayed “The one thing I came here to do is to be a (up).” Scherzer and Clay Buchholz also part of this city. With all we went through matched up in Game 2, when the Tigers as a city, there’s definitely a bond.” right-hander took a no-hitter and a 5-0 lead Detroit took a 2-1 lead in the sixth and into the sixth. The Red Sox rallied against 21-game winner Max Scherzer protected it the Detroit bullpen, tying it on David Ortiz’s until the seventh, when Boston loaded the eighth-inning grand slam and winning it in bases on a double, a walk and an error by the ninth on Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s walk- rookie shortstop Jose Iglesias, traded by off single through a drawn-in infield. the Red Sox in July. Both starters gave up hits in the first Victorino fell behind Jose Veras 0-2 but inning in the rematch, but it remained lofted a hanging curveball over the Green scoreless until Bogaerts doubled off the Monster to set off a celebration in the Red Green Monster with two outs in the fifth Sox dugout and in the Fenway Park stands. and scored on Ellsbury’s single. “It’s been a special ride, and we’re still But the Tigers took the lead in the bot- going,” second baseman Dustin Pedroia tom half, chasing Buchholz with a walk and said. “We’re not going to stop. We know Miguel Cabrera’s single before Franklin what our goal is. We want to win the World Morales walked Prince Fielder on four Blake Aldridge dives from the 27m platform at the Blue Lagoon during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Abereiddy, Series.” pitches to load the bases with nobody out. Wales, UK. —www.redbull.com Junichi Tazawa got one out for the win, Victor Martinez lined one high off the Craig Breslow pitched a scoreless eighth Green Monster to make it 2-1, holding at and series MVP Koji Uehara got the last first with a two-run single. Brandon three outs before the Red Sox poured out Workman came in and got Jhonny Peralta of the dugout to begin their now-familiar to hit a hard grounder to Pedroia, who Gasquet, Halep win celebration on the mound. chased down Martinez in the basepath for “The way I would sum it up is that I one out and then threw home to get thought their starters were good,” Tigers Fielder in a rundown. Saltalamacchia ran manager Jim Leyland said. “I thought their him back to third and dove, somersaulting bullpen was great.” over him while making the tag. Kremlin Cup titles Uehara, who inherited the closer job Workman struck out Alex Avila looking after the team’s first two choices were to end the inning. Scherzer worked out of a injured, posted three saves and a win in the jam in the bottom half after putting run- MOSCOW: Top-seeded Richard series. Then he joked about pitching so well ners on second and third with one out. He Gasquet of France won the 10th under pressure. “To tell you the truth, I allowed three runs on four hits and five title of his career by rallying to beat almost threw up,” Uehara kidded through a walks, striking out seven in 6 1-3 inning. qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of translator. Buchholz gave up two runs on four hits and Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final It’s the 13th AL pennant for the Red Sox two walks, striking out four in five-plus of the Kremlin Cup. Simona Halep and their first since 2007, when they swept inning. of Romania claimed the fifth title of the Colorado Rockies to win it all for the Scherzer walked the first two batters in her career by beating Samantha second time in four seasons. Boston swept the third, but Victorino popped up a bunt Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the the Cardinals in ‘04, winning Game 4 in St. and Scherzer made a sliding catch for the women’s final. Louis to clinch the title that put an end to first out. After trading sets, Gasquet generations of disappointment. Pedroia hit a high drive that was just trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke The latest trip comes one year after a 69- foul of the Carlton Fisk pole above the back to 4-4 in a game that went to win season that prompted the team to jet- Green Monster. After it was confirmed by seven deuces with Kukushkin con- tison its high-priced stars, rebuild the roster replay, he hit a hard grounder down the stantly failing on his forehand and bring in manager John Farrell to line that Cabrera fielded, easily stepping on shots. replace Bobby Valentine. Victorino was one third base before throwing to first for the Gasquet served at love to go 5-4 of the biggest additions, and he delivered double play.—AP ahead and converted his first match point when Kukushkin’s forehand cross sailed wide. With the victory, Gasquet over- takes fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quest for the eighth spot in the season-ending ATP Tour Final in London next month. It was Gasquet’s third title of the season. Kukushkin was playing in his first final since winning his only title in St. Petersburg in 2010. He was only the second qualifier to reach the final here since Paul- Henry Mathieu won the title in 2002. The 18th-ranked Halep has dropped only one set in four final appearances since winning her maiden title in Nurnberg, Germany, in June. Halep constantly trapped Stosur in the corners and beat the 2011 US Open champion with pre- cise crosses and shots down the line. MOSCOW: Romania’s Simona Halep kisses her trophy after her victory over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in Stosur, who lost the 2012 final the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament final match. —AFP BOSTON: Red Sox’s Jonny Gomes dives into second base after hitting a double to left here, saved 11 break points in the a break on her first match point, Halep said. With the victory, Halep in her last six matches before yes- field in the seventh inning during Game 6 of the American League baseball champi- first set before Halep dominated when the seventh-seeded Stosur is projected to rise to a career high terday, was looking to win back-to- onship series against the Detroit Tigers. —AP the tiebreaker. The fifth-seeded netted her return. 15th in the WTA Tour rankings back titles after winning the fifth Halep jumped to a 4-1 lead in the “It’s an incredible year for me today. crown of her career in Osaka, Japan, second and sealed the victory with and I enjoy every moment of it,” Stosur, who hasn’t dropped a set last Sunday. —AP Missouri takes control of SEC East COLUMBIA: A week after knocking off go-ahead touchdown in the final two min- Georgia on the road, No. 14 Missouri fol- utes. Manziel threw for 454 yards, account- Haas downs Haase for lowed it up by blowing out No. 22 Florida ed for five touchdowns, left the game for a 36-17 in Columbia, Missouri to take control series with a shoulder injury and threw two of the SEC East. In College Station, Texas, interceptions for A&M. No. 24 Auburn used a late score to beat AJ McCarron threw three touchdown second Vienna title Johnny Manziel and No. 7 Texas A&M 45-41. passes and Kenyan Drake rushed for 104 It was a Saturday filled with upsets in yards and two scores to lead No. 1 Alabama VIENNA: Tommy Haas won his second possibility of earning a place in the sea- the Southeastern Conference and most to a 52-0 win over Arkansas. Austrian Open title yesterday, a dozen son wrap-up for the first time. Dimitrov stuns Ferrer played in favor of Missouri. The Tigers (7-0, No. 2 Oregon downed Washington State years after claiming his first, with a 6-3, 4- He will try to push his case over the 3-0) manhandled the Gators with backup 62-38 as Marcus Mariota threw for 327 6, 6-4 defeat of Robin Haase. final two weeks of the regular season in to win Stockholm title quarterback Maty Mauk making his first yards and two touchdowns and ran for Victory over the Dutchman took two Valencia next week followed by the Paris STOCKHOLM: Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov battled start. Furthering Missouri’s cause, another. Carlos Hyde ran for 149 yards, and a quarter hours and denied Haase Masters. back from a set down to stun top seeded David Vanderbilt rallied to beat No. 15 Georgia including 106 yards and two touchdowns his third trophy in Austria after twice “It may mean that I have to win Paris,” Ferrer and claim his first ATP title in Stockholm 31-27 in Nashville, Tennessee, and in the second half, to lead No. 4 Ohio State winning on clay at Kitzbuehel. he said. “I have to give my best tennis, Tennessee kicked a last-second field goal to to a 34-24 victory over Iowa. At Stanford. Haas first won in Vienna in 2001 hav- nothing is impossible. I want to play yesterday. beat No. 11 South Carolina 23-21. Also, California, Tyler Gaffney ran for 171 yards ing lost the final the year before to Tim good tennis for the rest of the season.” The 28th-ranked Dimitrov won through 2-6, 6- Mississippi beat No. 6 LSU 27-24 on a 41- and two touchdowns in No. 13 Stanford’s Henman. “It was really tough, I had to Haas, with 15 career titles from his 27 3, 6-4 against world number three Ferrer for the yard field goal with 2 seconds to go. 24-10 win over UCLA. 22-year-old’s first victory over the Spaniard in four The result is Missouri is the only team in In other games, No. 12 Baylor trounced play well,” said the 35-year-old German. “I finals, hit back after going down an early played the big points well in the impor- break in the first set against Haase, with meetings. the division that has lost less than two Iowa State 71-7, No. 16 Texas Tech beat The boyfriend of Russian star Maria Sharapova games. The Tigers outgained Florida 500- West Virginia 37-27, No. 17 Fresno State tant moments.” Haas, who also won the German winning six of the next sev- mixed up his game to ambush the more experi- 151, not missing a beat without injured defeated UNLV 38-14 and No. 18 Munich on clay in the spring, stayed in en games to claim the set and begin the quarterback James Franklin. Oklahoma had a 34-19 victory over Kansas. the race for one of the four spots remain- second with a break of serve. enced Ferrer, playing in his 40th final. Auburn, which didn’t win an SEC game No. 20 Washington lost 53-24 to Arizona ing in the eight-man World Tour Finals Haase broke back and eventually “(It’s a) dream come true,” said an emotional last season, suddenly looks like a it could State, No. 21 Oklahoma downed TCU 24-10, starting in a fortnight in London. squared the final at one set each on a lob Dimitrov, competing in just his second final. be in the mix for a West title. The Tigers (6- No. 23 Northern Illinois beat Central He currently stands provisional 12th. “I winner. In the deciding set, Haas broke “Everyone has always told me how important a 1, 3-1) won a back-and-forth game with Michigan 38-17 and No. 25 Wisconsin ran still have a small chance, but I have to for 5-4 and took victory a game later on step this is.” —AFP A&M (5-2, 2-2), with Tre Mason scoring the past Illinois 56-32. —AP play extremely well,” Haas said of the slim his opponent’s long forehand. —AFP