Homer History: The Big Papi grand slam that still haunts Detroit

In our Homer History series, writers re-tell the stories of memorable home runs from their perspective. In this installment, Yahoo Sports NFL editor Al Toby, who grew up in Michigan, recalls the night — well, one of the nights — the Tigers bullpen blew a postseason game. This time, it was Big Papi delivering the death blow.

There was a time when the Boston Red Sox were on the receiving end of soul-crushing playoff blows. The poetry of Red Sox angst, a cottage industry of prose fueled largely on second-guessing just about everything, earned either sympathy or schadenfreude from baseball fans. That all changed after David Ortiz cranked one out in Game 4 of the ALCS for the “Idiots” in 2004.

Two championships later, the stage was set up for Ortiz to be Big Papi again. And the 2013 Detroit Tigers bullpen served as the mark sitting at the poker table.

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(Yahoo Sports / AP) Bullpen meltdowns aren’t new in recent Tiger playoff history. This one in Fenway Park was the (grand) salami sandwiched between Jose Valverde’s 2012 postseason misadventures in Oakland and New York, and the shenanigans in Camden Yards against the Orioles in 2014.

The tragic setup for Motown unfolded like this: Max Scherzer was spent after seven innings in Game 2 of the ALCS. The AL Cy Young winner gave up one earned run and struck out 13 in a 108-pitch outing. What a bum. He turned over that work and a 5-1 lead over to the bullpen.

Yep, a 5-1 lead with six outs to go and a win-probability of 97.2 percent wasn’t enough for a team that featured the AL Cy Young and AL MVP. Jose Veras, Drew Smyly, Al Alburquerque and Joaquin Benoit would each be charged one earned run after the carnage. But the bull’s-eye is permanently on Benoit, who got handed the baseball with the bases loaded and two outs.

If Papi singles, the Tigers still lead. If Papi doubles, the Tigers still lead. If Papi hits that rare triple, something he did once at Fenway that season, then the Tigers still lead. But the inevitable happened. In retrospect, the only surprise is that it happened so fast — in one bleeping pitch.

[Previously in Homer History: Bill Mazeroski’s great walk-off World Series winner]

“David Ortiz walks to the plate with the bases loaded, you’re thinking grand slam,” Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said.

“There were 24 guys in the dugout and 40,000 here that knew he was gonna hit a granny,” Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes said.

(AP) About that granny, which is why we’re here: Broadcaster Tim McCarver called the first-pitch offering a fastball. Catcher Alex Avila told The New York Times that it was a changeup that normally “goes down and away, with some pretty good action. That one stayed up a little bit.” BrooksBaseball.net classified the pitch as a splitter, one that Benoit served up as an at-bat opener to only 26 percent of left-handed hitters he faced that regular season.

If indeed it was a splitter, while facing the dragon, Benoit decided to YOLO it.

In a way, Ortiz teased the Tigers. After the swing there was no signature bat flip accompanying the roar of Fenway. The rocket to the bullpen in right field even looked like it had a chance to be snagged by Hunter, who had a few thievery highlights in his career. Instead, the only person who caught it in flight was the Red Sox bullpen catcher. For his reward in trying to be a hero, Hunter crashed over the fence and suffered a cut to the back of his head and bruises on his side. He said he treated the aches and pains with ice and Robitussin.

The catch attempt, framed with the jubilant Boston bullpen cop in the background, looked like it was in the baseball blooper reel in “The Naked Gun.” The joke on Detroit wasn’t over. The following day, manager Jim Leyland did the noble thing and took up for his beleaguered closer, saying, “I made a mistake that I take full responsibility for. I should’ve reminded him that we didn’t want Ortiz to beat us. He tried to make a great pitch. He tried to get it low and away and out of the strike zone, but he didn’t get it there. We were going to try to get him to swing at a ball if we could. I should have reminded him about that, and I did not.”

[Elsewhere: Check out the Dunk History series on Yahoo Sports]

A pitcher needed to be reminded that David Ortiz could make him a forever highlight. It’s no wonder the Tigers blew the chance to take a 2-0 series lead — few Tigers fans remember who scored the winning run that night since the game was all but over after Ortiz’s power bomb — and eventually fell in six games to the uncrowned champs.

And the nerve of Ortiz, who afterward gave this Michael Jordan shrug of a quote: “My idea wasn’t to go out and hit a grand slam.”

COMING SUNDAY: That time Joe Blanton — yes, the pitcher — homered in the World Series for the Phillies, by Yahoo Sports’ Sam Cooper.

PREVIOUSLY IN HOMER HISTORY
– The night a hobbled Kirk Gibson broke my heart (by Mike Oz)
– Cal Ripken Jr. wowed us yet again on Iron Man night (by Lauren Shehadi)
– When Albert Pujols silenced Minute Maid Park (by Jeff Passan)
– Bill Mazeroski’s great walk-off World Series winner (by Kevin Iole)

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