David Ortiz's career comes to an end after Indians sweep
BOSTON – With their season on the brink of baseball winter, trailing the Cleveland Indians 2-0 in the best-of-five ALDS, the Boston Red Sox once had again David Ortiz -- savior of seasons and one of the best clutch hitters in baseball -- right where they wanted him. Not once, but twice.
With one out in the sixth inning of Game 3 at Fenway Park Monday night, the Red Sox trailed by three runs with two runners on. Ortiz made his signature slow stroll to the plate. This time to face lights-out lefty Andrew Miller.
But, there would be no big Big Papi magic that Red Sox fans had become so accustomed to this time. Instead, Ortiz laced a sinking line drive to center fielder Rajai Davis for a sacrifice fly, cutting his team’s deficit to one run.
Indians hold off Red Sox for ALDS sweep, end David Ortiz's career
“So many times you think the script is written and he's just waiting to play his part,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “He gets a good line drive, sinking line drive that Davis makes a good running catch for the sacrifice fly. But I think there were a number of at-bats throughout these three games that he was in a pivotal moment. And I think the expectation so many years with David was there was going to be a big hit. And we were hopeful each time he was at the plate.”
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Ortiz had another chance for dramatics in the eighth inning. With two outs and Mookie Betts on first, the Indians brought right-hander Cody Allen in to face Ortiz. But, again, there were no fireworks for the home crowd. Ortiz never got a chance to swing the bat, walking on four pitches.
A single by Hanley Ramirez, the next batter, scored Betts, closing Boston’s deficit to 4-3, sending Ortiz to second. Representing the tying run, Ortiz was lifted for pinch-runner Marco Hernandez.
“You're thinking in the moment, ‘Is that the last time he runs off the field if we don't extend things?’” Farrell said. “And the emotion at the time, we're 180 feet from tying that ballgame up. So the game was still very much in the balance. David was doing his best to get the crowd on their feet, which they responded really well. It's an exciting moment. Playoff baseball you're going to get some of those key and pivotal moments late in the ballgame, and that was one of them.”
But the Red Sox could get no closer. The Indians completed the sweep. And Ortiz’s 20-year career was over.
Ortiz announced in November, on his 40th birthday, that this would be his last season.
“We would have liked to go all the way to the top with him,” Koji Uehara, at 41 the only member of the team older than Ortiz, said through an interpreter. “But it didn’t happen.”
“He’s been in those big spots and come out on the top every time. I think not only me but everybody was expecting that.”
In 85 postseason games Ortiz hit .289, going 88-for-304, with 17 home runs and 61 RBI, tied with Derek Jeter for fourth-most in history. He reached base safely in 34 of 39 career postseason games at Fenway. His 59 postseason walks are the most in Red Sox history and second-most by a left-handed hitter to David Justice’s 64.
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But there was to be none of those dramatics in his final game. His teammates were hoping he’d get a chance to extend his final at-bat.
“Yeah, especially when they walked him,” Betts said. “Pitching around him is probably the right play there. But we were just hoping that (Allen) could leave one, something good for him to handle and he could put a swing on it.
“I think we were all hoping for strike one. I didn’t even take off running because I was hoping he threw a strike.
“It’s tough. Obviously you want to go out giving him a ring, but I think one thing we can go to sleep at night saying we gave it our best try and that’s all we can really ask for.”
But the Boston offense that had been so prodigious during the season – leading the majors in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored and doubles -- turned paltry in the postseason, batting a combined .214, going 21 for 98 with 31 strikeouts and just 10 extra-base hits, getting outscored 15-7.
“Given how we performed as an offensive team throughout the year, and it's not to take anything away from their pitching, but I think there was no more than one run we were able to score in any one inning,” Farrell said. “The inability to string some hits together, generate the bigger inning, that wasn't there.
“So that puts us in a spot where we are today.”
The first day of their baseball winter and the first day of Ortiz’s retirement.
At game’s end, the Fenway crowd was stunned to silence. It took a moment for the faithful to begin chanting, ‘Thank you, Papi.” Ortiz had retreated to the sanctuary of the clubhouse, where he addressed his teammates. But he returned to the field about 10 minutes later, going to the mound to salute the crowd.
The last several weeks have been emotional for Ortiz, starting with the death of his friend, Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez in a boating accident Sept. 25 to the emotional farewell Ortiz had at Fenway on the season’s last day. Surrounded by his family, the absence of his mother, who died in a car accident almost 15 years ago, brought him to tears.
But on those occasions, he knew there would still be more baseball. Not this time, though.
“Tonight when I walk to the mound I realize that – I realize that it was going to be – it was over,” Ortiz sad. “It was pretty much the last time as a player (I would) walk in front of a crowd. And the emotion came back out again.”
But, he’s happy, he said. Not that the season is over. Not for the way it ended. But for the way his team was able to take two consecutive last-place finishes and convert them into a division win this season. He’s leaving his team in the hands of many young players, like Betts, and believes he’s leaving it in good hands.
“I told them, ‘Listen, we only played three games this playoff, but you guys saw the intensity. You guys saw the emotions. You guys saw the best of the best playing. You guys take a little bit of that. Make sure that carry over for the following year,’” he said.
“He’s taught everybody a lot and he is just full of knowledge,” said Travis Shaw, another of those young players. “He’s basically gone through everything. He’s been on top of the world. He’s said a lot to me and I know everything he’s said I’m going to take to heart. He will be missed.”
Arriving at Fenway on Monday, Ortiz drove around the perimeter of the ancient park. That was a first for him.
“Somebody asked me if I ever thought about this could be my last game,” he said. “(I) did a lap at Fenway today and I kind of like viewed things from a different perspective.”
And he thought about his career. And more.
It’s been a lifetime since he left the Dominican Republic as a 17 year old kid. Now he’s retired. He’s got three World Series rings, five Silver Slugger awards, 10 All-Star appearances. And a legacy that will be hard to replicate.
“That one kid that was expecting to just have fun,” he said, “here it is, 23 years later, having a career and walking home. There were not too many of us get to get it done.
“So, the memories and the other things that I can share with you guys – you guys already know most of them. And I’m happy and proud of going home the way I am right now.”
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