David Ortiz 2004 Alcs Statmuse

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 2:16 PM

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Find out more. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. David Ortiz joined the Boston Red Sox in 2003, and it didn’t take long for him to establish himself as a clutch postseason hitter. Though the Sox were eliminated in seven games in the 2003 ALCS by the Yankees, Ortiz hit two home runs and drove in six that series.

He was even better the next year when the Sox made a historic comeback from down 0-3 to the Yankees to win the series in seven. As stated earlier this week, LBS will be posting some great moments from recent MLB postseason history to get you pumped up for the MLB playoffs. FOX Sports will be televising much of the playoffs and this is a friendly reminder that the NLDS will be televised on FOX Sports 1. You can see the full MLB playoff TV schedule here. Today we take a look at the back-to-back walk-off hits Ortiz delivered in Games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS. Before we shared the infographic, we must go over his numbers from that series.

Ortiz hit at least .308 with a 1.086 OPS in all three postseason series in 2004. His numbers in the ALCS were off the charts — he hit three home runs and drove in 11. The guy is just a postseason monster. Here is some more info on his walk-offs. On June 23, David Ortiz’s jersey will be retired by our Boston Red Sox. While he has given fans a lifetime of memories, I want to focus on the time where he truly lived up to his nickname of Big Papi.

Flashback to 2004 after the Red Sox had just been drubbed 19-8 by our hated rivals, the New York Yankees. The Yankees had scored 32 runs in the first three games. No team had ever come back from a 3-0 lead. Our Red Sox were in big trouble. The Red Sox were down 4-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. Not only did the Sox need to score a run, but they needed to do it off probably the best closer of all time in Mariano Rivera.

The Yankees’ closer walked Kevin Millar. The Sox needed to score, so they put Dave Roberts on to get a runner into scoring position. Roberts stole second. As soon as Roberts stole second, Bill Mueller singled him home and the Sox tied the game. Paul Quantrill was pitching for the Yankees in the bottom of the 12th inning. In an interview with Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, Ortiz recalls his famous walk-off.

Ortiz hit a two-run walk-off home run to right field. The Sox got this one, but little did we know that this was the start of something special for David Ortiz. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E ____________________________________ ______ New York 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 12 1... After attending the horror show that was Game 3, I got home from my friend's house the next morning and collapsed on the couch. I barely moved all day, just wanting 8:19 to roll around so I could forget about the day before. I might have watched the Patriots game in the afternoon, or I might have just stared blankly with the TV turned off.

The only important thing was winning that night. The players knew what had to be done. David Ortiz said he stopped on the way in to Fenway that day and pulled his car over beneath the billboard with a picture of a smiling, double-pointing Manny Ramirez that said simply, "Keep... In batting practice Kevin Millar told anyone who would listen that if they could just win today, the rest of the series would fall into place, with Pedro pitching the next day, Curt going... Derek Lowe started for the Red Sox, with Orlando Hernandez going for the Yankees. Hernandez had traditionally pitched well against the Sox, but had come up with a "dead arm" late in the season.

Lowe had begun the postseason as the odd man out and was relegated to the bullpen, but he was forced back into the rotation after Game 4's originally-scheduled starter Tim Wakefield had volunteered to... Manny walked in the first but didn't score, and in the second Hideki Matsui was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on a ground ball to shortstop. But in the third, Derek Jeter singled and Alex Rodriguez homered over the Green Monster for a 2-0 Yankees lead. The Sox went in order in the third and fourth, and it didn't look good. That's when it hit me that if they didn't win today, that was the end; there was nothing tomorrow. But that couldn't be right!

I wasn't ready for it to end. They had to win today, because the alternative was too horrible to even contemplate. Millar walked to start the fifth, but he was erased on a fielder's choice. Mark Bellhorn followed with a walk, but he was also erased on a fielder's choice. Finally Orlando Cabrera singled, scoring one run to get the Sox on the board. Manny walked to load the bases, and Ortiz came through again with a clutch single, scoring two runs and giving the Sox a 3-2 lead.

It was only the second time in the whole series that the Sox had had a lead, but unfortunately this time was as short-lived as the other. With one out in the following inning, Matsui tripled, and Mike Timlin came in to relieve Lowe, who had done an outstanding job of keeping the Sox in the game. Timlin and Keith Foulke were the only two pitchers spared from last night's game, so each would be counted on for multiple innings if necessary tonight. Bernie Williams greeted Timlin with an infield hit to drive in Matsui and tie the game. A wild pitch moved Williams to second before Jorge Posada walked. Both runners tried to advance on a pitch that skipped past Varitek, but Bill Mueller made a great tag as Tek threw Williams out at third.

Ruben Sierra hit a grounder to deep second that Bellhorn threw wildly to first, sending Posada to third. Tony Clark followed with a grounder to second, and Bellhorn heard the boo-birds as he fielded the ball but couldn't do anything with it while another run scored. Miguel Cairo walked to load the bases before Jeter finally grounded out to end the inning. Matsui's triple was the only hit in the inning that had left the infield, but the Yankees had a 4-3 lead, and time was running out for the Red Sox.

David Ortiz 2004 Alcs Statmuse

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