Red Sox and Angels Share Roller Coaster : Emotional Playoff Game Finally Ends With Boston on the Up Side

It was, said veteran Don Baylor of the Boston Red Sox, a game of roller coaster emotions.

“It was very emotional from the time we got up this morning,” said Baylor, whose two-run homer triggered a fantastic comeback Sunday as the Red Sox kept their American League playoff hopes alive with a 7-6, 11-inning victory over the Angels.

“It was like we were on a roller coaster all day, first up, then down, back up, down again and finally back up,” Baylor said.

Baylor, who holds the American League record for getting hit by 227 pitches in his 15-year career, scored the game-winning run after being hit for the first time in postseason play to start the 11th.

“We got down to the last out and we did what we’ve done all year,” the designated hitter said of the ninth inning when he hit a two-run homer with one out and Dave Henderson drilled a two-run shot with two out.

“When you get down to your last out, your last pitch, there’s a lot of emotion,” he added. “We did what we had to do. We’ve been pushed to the wall a lot this year and after this you have to believe in this ball club.

“By far this is the best ball game I’ve ever been involved in and that’s more than 2,000 games.”

Reliever Calvin Schiraldi, the losing pitcher in 11 innings Saturday night, said he was happy to get “the chance to make up for last night.”

Schiraldi said he just blocked out the night before when he took the mound and retired the Angels in order in the 11th to preserve the victory after Henderson drove in Baylor with a sacrifice fly.

Steve Crawford, the winning pitcher who worked out of a bases-loaded jam to protect a 6-6 tie in the ninth, said “there is nothing like being in a game like this.”

The atmosphere is just terrific,” Crawford said. “It’s a dream come true. The game of my life.”

Henderson, who entered the game in the fifth after center fielder Tony Armas twisted his ankle, went from possible goat to hero for the Red Sox, who now trail 3-2 as the best-of-seven series heads back to Boston for a game Tuesday and possibly another on Wednesday.

With the Red Sox ahead, 2-1, in the sixth, Henderson appeared to knock a long drive by Bobby Grich over the fence in left-center for a two-run homer.

“I just went after the ball,” Henderson said. “My wrist hit the top of the wall and knocked the ball out of the park. I thought I had it all the way and should have caught it.”

Asked what he was thinking when the count went to 2-2 against Angel reliever Donnie Moore with two out in the ninth, Henderson said:

“We are ballplayers and we fail most of the time. I just stepped out and gathered my thoughts. I fouled off the next pitch and then hit the home run off a fork ball.

“I haven’t got that many chances (since being acquired from Seattle in August), but it’s nice to get the big hit. It came at the right time.”

Angel Manager Gene Mauch declined to attend the usual postgame news conference.

However, he said in the clubhouse: “I exult when we win and I agonize a little when we lose. Then I get ready for another ballgame. I’m not any different from anyone else.”

“I was trying to throw a good split-fingered pitch, but it didn’t have any dive on it,” Moore said of the home run pitch to Henderson. “Maybe if I tried to blow it past him, we’d be drinking champagne now.”