BOSTON, Mass. – Shane Victorino smacked his second career postseason grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning as Boston finished off visiting Detroit to win the American League Championship Series in six games.
Jacoby Ellsbury added a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who return to the World Series for the first time since 2007. Boston will host the National League-champion St. Louis Cardinals in Wednesday's Game 1.
VIEW: Game 6 box score
The Red Sox trailed 2-1 entering the seventh and Detroit's Max Scherzer (0-1) allowed a leadoff double to Jonny Gomes and issued a one-out walk to Xander Bogaerts before being pulled. Ellsbury reached on an error by shortstop Jose Iglesias to load the bases before Victorino smashed his blast into the first row above the Green Monster off Jose Veras.
Junichi Tazawa (1-0) retired Miguel Cabrera on a grounder with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Craig Breslow worked a perfect eighth and Koji Uehara worked round Austin Jackson's two-out infield hit in the ninth before striking out Iglesias to record his third save of the series.
Detroit took a one-run lead in the sixth when Victor Martinez smashed a two-run single off the wall in left-center field. The Tigers didn't score again as Prince Fielder – while on third base – made a base-running mistake that led to a double play and Alex Avila struck out.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Scherzer was charged with three runs (two earned) and four hits in 6 1/3 innings, while Boston's Clay Buchholz gave up two runs and four hits in five-plus innings. … Victorino was 2-for-23 in the series before his game-winning blast. … Uehara struck out nine and allowed four hits in six innings in the series.