David Ortiz’ Walk-Off Homer
As the most clutch hitter in Red Sox history, David Ortiz has had his fair share of huge home runs for the team (and this is the first of his two appearances on this list). While both of his entries in this article were important, the edge has to go to this home run in the 2004 ALCS for what was at stake.
The Red Sox had spent the entire 2004 season hoping for a rematch of the 2003 ALCS after that series ended in crushing fashion. While the series the previous year had ended in extra innings at the end of the seventh game, it seemed as though the Red Sox wouldn’t even get past Game Four in 2004.
After losing the first two games in New York and getting blown out in Game Three at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were down to their last three outs in the ninth inning and facing the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera. Every Red Sox fan who was watching that fateful night knows what happened next. Kevin Millar walked and Dave Roberts came in to pinch run.
Everyone, including the Yankees, knew that Roberts was going to try to steal second base and steal it he did. Bill Mueller then hit a single up the middle to drive Roberts in with the tying run.
The game remained tied into the twelfth inning before Ortiz, with Manny Ramirez on base, crushed Paul Quantrill‘s pitch over the right field wall for a game-winning two-run homer.
The Red Sox weren’t out of the woods yet and they still needed to win the next three games to finish their comeback, but this was the beginning. Ortiz kept the team alive and sparked something in them. He won the following game with a clutch RBI single in the fourteenth inning and the rest was history. Still, they may not get as important as his home run in Game Four.