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Brian Fuentes, who led the AL with 48 saves during the regular season, retired the Red Sox in order in the bottom of the ninth for his second save of the series as the Angels won 7-6 and eliminated the Red Sox from the playoffs in three straight games.

Papelbon's amazing postseason scoreless streak couldn't have ended at a worse time for the Red Sox. He blew the save in the ninth as the Angels rallied for three runs after two were out and nobody on base.
Erick Aybar, the ninth-place hitter in the lineup, started things with a single and took second on defensive indifference. Chone Figgins walked, and Papelbon was one strike away from ending it when Abreu walloped an opposite-field double off The Wall in left, scoring Aybar.
That ended Papelbon's streak at 26 1/3 innings, 1 2/3 short of the major-league record for the start of a career set by Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson from 1905-11.
Hunter was walked intentionally to load the bases and get to Guerrero, but Guerrero lined Papelbon's first pitch up the middle as Figgins and Abreu raced home to put the Angels ahead 7-6. The RBI were only Guerrero's second and third in his last 20 post-season games.
Hideki Okajima took over and retired Morales for the final out.

The Red Sox gave themselves a little breathing room in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Kevin Jepsen, staging a two-out rally. David Ortiz lashed a single up the middle for his first hit of the series. Joey Gathright pinch ran and did his best Dave Roberts imitation by swiping second on a pitchout. Lowell slashed a single inside first base, and Gathright raced home to make the score 6-4.

The Angels touched up the Red Sox bullpen for a pair of runs in the eighth, chopping Boston's lead to 5-4.
Bobby Abreu greeted reliever Billy Wagner with an infield ground-rule double, a shot down the first base line that Kevin Youkilis lunged for and knocked into the photographers' dugout. After fanning Torii Hunter, Wagner did the near-impossible by walking Guerrero, then retired Morales on a grounder to second.
Francona brought in Jonathan Papelbon, and Juan Rivera lined his first pitch into right-center for a two-run single. Reggie Willits pinch ran for Rivera, and Papelbon, reprising his pickoff of Matt Holliday in the 2007 World Series, nailed Willits diving back into the bag to end the inning with the Red Sox now clinging to a one-run lead.

The Angels loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth inning, but the Red Sox escaped the mess while allowing just one run.
Torii Hunter led off with a double and was awarded third base on a balk by Buchholz. Vladimir Guerrero reached on an infield hit off the glove of third baseman Lowell diving to his left, and Hunter remained at third. After Buchholz walked Morales to load the bases, Terry Francona went to the bullpen for fireballing rookie Daniel Bard.
Bard fell behind Juan Rivera on the count 3-and-1 but got him to ground into an around-the-horn double play as Hunter finally scored. Maicer Izturis popped to to short, and the Red Sox led 5-2 after 5 1/2 innings.

The Red Sox bounced right back in the bottom of the fourth and increased their lead to 5-1. Mike Lowell drilled a single off The Wall, and J.D. Drew lined a homer off one of the struts of the TV hut in straightaway center field. It was the seventh career post-season homer for Drew, his fourth with the Red Sox.

The Angels quickly retaliated against Clay Buchholz in the top of the fourth when with one out Kendry Morales lofted the first post-season home run of his career into the right-field grandstand, cutting the Red Sox lead to 3-1.

The Red Sox, limited to eight hits and one run over the first 20 innings of this series, finally broke loose in the third inning and scored three times off southpaw Scott Kazmir.
Alex Gonzalez started the rally with a one-out walk, and Jacoby Ellsbury slapped an opposite-field single to left, the Red Sox' first hit. Dustin Pedroia then slammed a double off The Wall in left-center to chase home both Gonzalez and Ellsbury, and Victor Martinez flicked his bat at a 1-and-2 pitch and doubled into the left-field corner to bring in Pedroia and put the Red Sox in front 3-0.

This is when the Red Sox are often at their best, when their backs are against The Fenway Park Wall with nowhere left to go.
The Red Sox are the only team in major-league history to twice win a Division Series after being down 0-2 in games. Throw in the 2004 ALCS when they were down to the Yankees 0-3 and came back to win the pennant, the Red Sox are historically the most dangerous team when they're on the brink of elimination.
In fact, since 2003 the Red Sox are 12-3 in elimination games, including a 7-1 mark at Fenway Park.
On the negative side, by being held to four hits or less in three consecutive postseason games dating back to last fall, the Red Sox have matched the second-longest streak of four hits or less in major-league history, joining the "Hitless Wonder" Chicago White Sox, who still managed to win the World Series that year.
The starting lineups for today's elimination game at Fenway Park:
Angels
Chone Figgins, 3b
Bobby Abreu, rf
Torii Hunter, cf
Vladimir Guerrero, dh
Kendry Morales 1b
Juan Rivera, lf
Maicer Izturis, 2b
Mike Napoli, c
Erick Aybar, ss
Scott Kazmir, lhp
Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, cf
Dustin Pedroia, 2b
Victor Martinez, c
Kevin Youkilis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
David Ortiz, dh
Mike Lowell, 3b
J.D. Drew, rf
Alex Gonzalez, ss
Clay Buchholz, rhp

Frasor took care of the Red Sox in the ninth to record his 11th save as the Blue Jays held on for an 8-7 victory, handing the Sox their fifth straight loss and seventh in the last nine games. Ellsbury singled with one out and stole second with two outs, and Martinez drew a four-pitch walk. But Frasor caught Youkilis looking at a 3-and-2 pitch right down the middle to end the game and delay the Red Sox' clinching of the wild card for at least a few more hours.

The Red Sox made a run at the Jays in the eighth. Ellsbury had led off with a single off Jesse Carlson, and Dustin Pedroia greeted Shawn Camp with another single. After Martinez grounded into a double play -- the fourth of the night hit into by the Sox -- Youkilis brought home the run with a double off The Wall in left-center. David Ortiz lashed another double off the fence in front of the Red Sox bullpen, shaving Toronto's lead to four runs. Bay drew a walk to keep the rally going, and then Drew blasted a three-run homer, his 22nd of the season, over the Sox bullpen to slash Toronto's lead to 8-7.
Jason Frasor took over and got Casey Kotchman to foul out and end the rally.

Lind clouted his third homer of the game and 35th of the season off Takashi Saito in the seventh, a solo shot that rang off the right-field foul pole 301 feet from home plate. The Jays' sixth homer of the game and ninth of this series put them ahead 8-2.
Lind became the first visiting player to hit three homers in a game at Fenway Park in 13 years. Frank Thomas performed the feat for the Chicago White Sox here in 1996.
It was the first time the Red Sox have given up six homers in game anywhere since 2004 in Detroit when they surrendered seven, six of them off Tim Wakefield.