Geoff Blum’s first at-bat of the postseason came with two outs in the 14th inning of Game 3 of the World Series. And did he ever make it count.
He clobbered a 2-0 pitch from Ezequiel Astacio into the right-field bleachers to give the Sox a 6-5 lead.
Astacio imploded after that, eventually walking Chris Widger with the bases loaded to push the lead to 7-5.
Damaso Marte got the win by pitching a scoreless 13th, working around a leadoff walk to Jose Vizcaino.
In the 14th, he struck out Morgan Ensberg on three pitches, then walked Orlando Palmeiro. With the tying run at the plate, he got Jason Lane to pop out to second, then Brad Ausmus hit a routine grounder to short. Juan Uribe couldn’t handle it, putting runners at first and third.
Manager Ozzie Guillen turned the game over to Mark Buehrle, who started and pitched seven innings on Sunday.
He gave Uribe another chance, getting Adam Everett to pop to the shortstop, earning his first career save and giving the Sox a 3-0 Series lead.
Way back in the eighth, the Sox were four outs away from what would have been their most satisfying victory of the postseason, but the bullpen blew a save opportunity for the second consecutive game.
At 5 hours 41 minutes, the game was the longest, by time, in World Series history. For innings, it matched the longest in Series history, a 14-inning, 2-1 Boston win over Brooklyn in Game 2 in 1916.
The Sox had rallied from a four-run deficit off Astros workhorse Roy Oswalt with a five-run fifth and held the lead until relievers Cliff Politte and Neal Cotts issued walks with two outs in the eighth.
That led to Jason Lane’s game-tying double off Dustin Hermanson, pitching for the first time since Sept. 30.
Orlando Hernandez had to leave the game after walking Orlando Palmeiro to start the 10th because of an undisclosed injury. The Sox had overcome a four-run deficit after four innings that equaled their largest of the postseason. They rallied with five runs in the fifth to seize a 5-4 victory over Boston in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
They had a chance to win the game in the top of the 11th, but pinch-hitter Timo Perez grounded to first with runners at first and second to end the rally.
The Sox broke through against Oswalt in the fifth during a 46-pitch rally.
Oswalt had allowed only five runs in 25 1/3 innings before the Sox tagged him.
Their five-run rally was the biggest in Series history since Anaheim scored five times in the first inning in Game 2 of the 2002 Series against San Francisco.
Joe Crede continued his breakout postseason by leading off the fifth with an opposite-field home run, his second of the Series and fourth of the playoffs.
Juan Uribe extended the rally with a single and moved to second on Scott Podsednik’s hit that nearly hit him before skipping to right.
Tadahito Iguchi followed with a soft single to score Uribe, prompting Houston pitching coach Jim Hickey to visit the mound.
Jermaine Dye battled Oswalt to a 3-2 count before poking a low-and-outside pitch into center to cut the Astros’ lead to 4-3 while raising Oswalt’s pitch count to 81.
With two out, A.J. Pierzynski clubbed an Oswalt pitch that bounced off the center-field wall to score two runs and vault the Sox to a 5-4 lead.
As Dye scored all the way from first, Pierzynski stood on second, clapping six times.
The Sox loaded the bases on a walk to Rowand and when Oswalt hit Crede on a 1-2 pitch.
That also ignited a yelling match between the Sox’s Carl Everett, who was relegated to the bench because of National League rules in which the designated hitter isn’t used, and Houston manager Phil Garner.
Plate umpire Jerry Layne issued separate warnings to the involved parties, and Oswalt finally got out off the jam when he induced Uribe to fly to right on his 100th pitch.
Before the fifth, the Sox patiently worked Oswalt, who threw a 98-m.p.h. pitch on the second pitch of the game before fooling Podsednik on a 73-m.p.h. curve.
The Sox put runners on first and second with no outs in the second, but Aaron Rowand hit a line drive that was caught at short by Adam Everett, who flipped to second to nail Paul Konerko.
The fifth-inning rally gave starter Jon Garland his first lead of the game. Garland fell behind 1-0 in the first on a double by Craig Biggio and an opposite-field single by Lance Berkman.
The Astros, playing their first home Series game, added two more runs in the third thanks to a miscue. Everett led off with a single. On the first pitch to Oswalt, the Sox called for a pitchout. Everett stopped as Uribe caught Pierzynski’s throw, but Uribe cranked a throw that nailed Everett near the midsection. Uribe was charged with an error, and Everett moved to second on Oswalt’s sacrifice.
The Astros expanded their lead to 3-0 on Biggio’s single and a two-out RBI single by Morgan Ensberg.
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mgonzales@tribune.com
