Boston Red Sox news: Underdog Sox bark loudly into ALCS

Just like that, the Boston Red Sox are on to the American League Championship Series.

On an electric night at Fenway Park, American League Divisional Series hero Kiké Hernández drove in the winning run as the Red Sox eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays on an exciting Marathon Monday in the city of Boston.

Like the 162-game regular season, Game 4 of the ALDS gave Red Sox fans palpitations as the game was filled with excitement, disappointment and pure joy as the Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead, then gave up the lead just to win in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning on a Hernández sacrifice fly that brought in pinch hitter Danny Santana for the winning run.

Boston Red Sox and the heroic bat of Kiké Hernández

And how fitting it was that Hernández had the chance to advance his team to the ALCS as the series he had at the plate.  This man ignited the offense in Game 2 and Game 3 with 8 consecutive hits and on a wild night at Fenway, he did what he had to do to send the Rays home without a Game 5.

"“You’re going to have a chance to win the game, and you can’t let this situation get too big,” Hernández said following the game, via MLB.com. “You’re about to win this game, so you need to work on slowing everything down and slowing your breathing down and slowing the game down and starting early and making sure that you see the pitch, and you’re not just swinging at your shoes for no reason for trying to be a hero.”"

In a game that started with a strong pitching performance from Eduardo Rodriguez, the disappointment came when the bullpen squandered the 5-0 lead.  But, with a team like the Rays, a team that won 100 games, no one would expect them to go down silently.

Boston Red Sox young slugger Rafael Devers doesn’t stay silent either

You also wouldn’t expect a clutch performer like Rafael Devers to stay silent at the plate either.

Devers, who has a knack for hitting timely homeruns in the postseason, extended his resume with this three-run blast off Rays rookie Shane McClanahan to get the offense rolling in the third inning:

The Red Sox tacked on two more runs in the inning as Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez also drove in runs in the inning.

In hitting his fifth homer in his young postseason career, Devers is quickly rising in Red Sox history in all-time postseason homers in franchise history.  He has a ways to go to catch David Ortiz who leads the list with 17, but at just 24 years old he has some time and there is a chance he can leap past Kevin Youkilis (six) and Normar Garciaparra (seven) by the time this postseason is over.

Speaking of Big Papi, Devers is quickly living up to his name as “Little Papi” with his clutch performances in the postseason.

"“He’s only 24, 25 in 10 days,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following the game. “I always said that there’s a lot of young players, very talented players, but this kid, he’s still young. Been there, done that. He has a World Series ring. He’s dominated October, and we’re very proud of him.”"

Manager’s minute: Alex Cora has the Boston Red Sox rolling and believing

After the way the team performed or underperformed following the MLB All-Star break, it really is a surprise to see this team in the position that they are.

At the same time, it is not a complete shock.  This team does have some character and players who refuse to lay down in die.  They also have a manager in Alex Cora who just seemed to have all the answers every time the team did look dead.

In sticking with players like Eduardo Rodriguez and Bobby Dalbec, Cora has showed confidence in his team which seems to pay off in moments like Monday night.

"“Not too many people gave us a chance from the get-go, but we believed,” Cora said. “We always said we had a good baseball team that had some holes, and we still have some holes, but at the end, for how bad it looked sometimes, we’re still here. We’re still in the dance. We’re still in the tournament, and we’re moving on to the ALCS.”"

So, bring on either the Chicago White Sox or the Houston Astros. The Boston Red Sox will be underdogs again, but with them now rolling in the postseason, they are sure to make things interesting, very interesting.