Jacoby Ellsbury saves Red Sox's season: Jacoby Ellsbury was already among the leading candidates for the AL MVP award. Sunday he might have cemented his place as the top one.His two home runs in the first game of a day-night double-header were impressive enough, considering they vaulted him into uncharted territory as the first Boston Red Sox's player to achieve the 30-30 combo in home runs and steals on the same season.The Red Sox salvaged their AL wild-card lead Sunday when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-out, three-run homer in the 14th inning of the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader, lifting Boston over the New York Yankees 7-4.The Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to snap a four-game skid and head into their final series with a one-game lead over Tampa Bay.Boston held a nine-game lead over the Rays entering play Sept. 4 but has gone 5-16 since then. Up by 1 1-2 games to start the day, the Red Sox nearly wasted that entire lead after losing the opener 6-2 despite Ellsbury's two homers. Combined with the Rays' 5-2 win over Toronto, the Red Sox went into the second game with a half-game lead.Boston finishes in Baltimore, while Tampa Bay hosts the Yankees, who already have clinched the AL's best record and homefield advantage through the AL championship series."I hope we were breathing before — every other breath. It was a BIG win, but we've got to go down tomorrow and play well," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.Ellsbury homered off Scott Proctor (0-2) after Darnell McDonald singled and Marco Scutaro walked.
Franklin Morales (1-1) pitched two innings for the win. Felix Doubront, recalled on Sept. 1, finished the 5-hour, 11-minute game for his first save since August 2010.In the opener, A.J. Burnett made his most impressive start in nearly three months and Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer for the Yankees. Ellsbury connected twice to become the first player in Red Sox history to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season.Desperate for a win in the second game, Terry Francona used Jonathan Papelbon for a season-high 2 1-3 innings, bringing the closer in with the score tied on the road.Typical of the bumbling baseball they've played while going 6-18 in September, the Red Sox made three more errors Sunday, several miscues on the basepaths and blew an opportunity to advance the runner in the 10th inning with a sacrifice. They had the leadoff runner reach in each inning from the sixth through the 10th in the nightcap.Yet they still won.Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected for the third time this season when he raced onto the field in the 13th to protect first baseman Nick Swisher and dispute a call after Tim McClelland called Dustin Perdroia safe. Replays show the diving Pedroia was out.