Ross hit a pair of three-run homers against the first-place White Sox Wednesday, and won Thursday night’s game with a walk-off, three-run blast into the Monster Seats in the ninth.
Ross came to the plate with two aboard and one out with the Sox trailing, 1-0. This looked like a typical Red Sox heartbreaker. They were going to lose, 1-0, one day after winning, 10-1. It was a game that would reinforce their well-deserved image as front-runners who fail in the clutch.
But Ross changed things. He worked the count to 1-and-1, then crushed a cookie delivered by White Sox closer Addison Reed. There was no doubt about it. It was in the books before it was in the Monster Seats. Alfredo Aceves doused Ross with electric-blue Gatorade and Nick Punto separated Ross from his No. 7 Red Sox jersey.
“It felt like a bunch of piranhas jumping on me and attacking me,’’ said Ross. “Punto was staring right at me with an evil look in his eye. He just started yanking at my jersey. He was famous for that in St. Louis. They call him the shredder. I got to meet the shredder tonight.’’
With three three-run homers in two nights, Ross was not eager to lose the lucky shirt.
“I’ll gladly get shredded again tomorrow,’’ he said. “But it’ll be the same jersey in my mind.’’
“It’s crazy for somebody not to be nervous and not feel the pressure,’’ said Clay Buchholz, who emboldened the Sox hopes with eight innings of stellar pitching. “He’s been huge for us all year.’’
The 31-year-old Ross is a lifetime .262. hitter who hit five postseason home runs for the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants. He was characterized as “cheerful” by Sox CEO Larry Lucchino in last week’s letter to season ticket-holders, but has not been 100 percent cheerful with manager Bobby Valentine all season. The Sox signed him in late January and he’s been a potent righthanded bat (.274, 16 homers) in this uneven Sox campaign.
Ross’s walkoff gave the Sox three out of four games against Chicago, and five out of seven since the abysmal stretch of bad baseball that preceded the All-Star break. The Red Sox are a whopping three games over .500 with 69 games left and look perfectly capable of getting into the playoffs thanks to the contrived new system that rewards mediocrity and sustains interest. It simply doesn’t matter that the Red Sox are 10 games behind the Yankees. They can play October baseball and in October . . . anything can happen.
“We’ve gotten some timely hits and that’s what you feed off,’’ said Ross. “I hope we can keep rolling.’’
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