ST. PETERSBURG, Florida - Red Sox Nation has a new reason to hate the Yankees.
Moments after Boston blew a ninth-inning lead and lost at Baltimore, the Rays' Evan Longoria delivered Tampa Bay to the playoffs with a 12th-inning solo homer off Scott Proctor.
Tampa Bay's 8-7 victory ignited the 29,518 fans at Tropicana Field and completed the Red Sox' collapse - the most stunning September fall in baseball history. Longoria's second homer of the night ended a game that the Yanks once led, 7-0.
Oh, and the Red Sox once led the AL wild card by nine games.
While the Boston was gritting out a rain delay at Baltimore, its sworn rivals - the AL champion Yanks - were toying with the frayed nerves of Red Sox Nation.
And the Rays were giving themselves one more shot at an improbable playoff berth.
The Rays were down to their final out when Dan Johnson lined a two-out, pinch-hit solo homer off former reliever Cory Wade - a shot that wiped out what was once a seven-run Yankee lead.
The Yankees will play AL Central champ Detroit in the best-of-five Division Series, which opens Friday night at Yankee Stadium with a marquee pitching matchup - CC Sabathia against Justin Verlander.
The Rays advanced to face the AL West champion Texas Rangers. Texas' victory at Anaheim clinched the second seed on a crazy Wednesday night.
Mark Teixeira hit two homers off David Price - including a grand slam - as the Yankees ran out to a 7-0 lead at the Trop. It was all but wiped out in a six-run eighth, capped by Longoria's three-run homer off Luis Ayala.
Somehow, the Yankees had held the Rays scoreless on two hits by using eight pitchers through the first seven innings.
Freddy Garcia might've been revealed as the starter of Game 3 in the ALDS, since Girardi used A.J. Burnett to start the seventh inning. Burnett faced one batter, retiring Sean Rodriguez on a groundout.
Girardi already had assigned Phil Hughes to his postseason bullpen, and Hughes tossed a scoreless fifth inning. Instead of using Hughes as Wednesday's starter, Girardi figured it was best to get him warmed up during the game to simulate what he might face in postseason.
In his first major league start, Dellin Betances threw two scoreless innings to fellow rookie Jesus Montero - who made just his third big-league start behind the plate.
“He's familiar with a lot of these guys,” Girardi said of Montero. “So, we thought we'd put him back there.”
But in the eighth, a Boone Logan fastball that hit Casey Kotchman - loading the bases with none out - ricocheted off Montero's right arm. Montero doubled over in pain and was replaced by Austin Romine.
Though Alex Rodriguez was scratched due to soreness in his right knee - an uneasy development on the eve of postseason - Girardi put out a representative lineup of regulars.
Teixeira's seventh career grand slam gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead in the second, and a fourth-inning solo shot - his 39th homer of the year - made it 6-0.
Derek Jeter (0-for-3, walk) had a chance to hit .300, but finished at .297. Granderson finished with 119 RBI, Cano at 118 and Teixeira at 111.
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