CLEVELAND — He blocked out everything: the screaming crowd, Kenny Lofton’s chirping, even his ex-girlfriend singing only a few feet away.
Josh Beckett, standing tall as ever on the mound, rose above it all — October’s biggest star.
Beckett dominated the Cleveland Indians for the second time and Manny Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run with a 390-foot single as the Boston Red Sox stayed alive in the AL championship series with a 7-1 win Thursday night in Game 5.
Back to Fenway Park they go. Just the Red Sox being the Red Sox. They have plenty of practice at these postseason comebacks.
“We weren’t trying to win three games in one night,” Kevin Youkilis said. “We were just going out there and fight and do whatever we had to do to win.”
Youkilis set the tone with a first-inning homer off C.C. Sabathia as Boston shipped the best-of-seven series back to the heart of Red Sox Nation to continue a season nearly canned for the cold New England winter.
Clearly, Ramirez &Co. cared.
“We made it happen,” Ramirez said.
In 2004, Boston rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees and went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight for its first World Series title since 1918.
The Red Sox forced Game 6 on Saturday night, and will turn to Curt Schilling, 9-3 in 17 career postseason starts, against Fausto Carmona.
Boston still trails 3-2, but if not for Beckett, the calm, cool and cocky 20-game winner, their would be no more baseball until spring.
“Josh is unbelievable,” Youkilis said. “This year has been unbelievable for him and we hope he wins the Cy Young. He’s shown here in the playoffs why he should.”
In the late innings, drummer John Adams, whose tom-tom beat has pulsated through a special season at Jacobs Field, slumped against his instrument as the Red Sox tacked on runs. Meanwhile, in the Boston bullpen, two relievers used water bottles to playfully bang on backup catcher Doug Mirabelli’s shinguards.
The 27-year-old Beckett, who beat Cleveland in the opener, once again came through with the stakes at their highest.
The right-hander allowed only a run and three hits in the first, and only five total hits in eight innings. He struck out 11, walked one and was around the plate with almost every one of his 109 pitches.
“He’s got something others don’t have,” third baseman Mike Lowell said. “There is a different feel for us when he takes the mound. Time and time again he comes through.”
Beckett, who with each start carves his name deeper among the postseason pitching elite, is no stranger to comebacks.
In 2003, he pitched a two-hitter for Florida in Game 5 of the NLCS as the Marlins rallied from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Chicago Cubs. Then, pitching on just three days’ rest in Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, he allowed five hits in a 2-0 win and was picked as MVP.
If the Red Sox can win two more, he might have another trophy for his mantle.
“We know we have to do now,” said Beckett, 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA this October. “This is not where we want to be, but obviously, we’re inching closer to where we want to be.”
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