Ryan Dempster called it.

Others no doubt will claim the same thing. As David Ortiz came to the plate with the bases loaded, representing the tying run in the eighth inning of a postseason game, people all over Fenway Park surely let the notion of a grand slam cross their minds.

People all over the world, probably.

But however you called it, Dempster's story will top yours.

Dempster was warming up in the Red Sox's bullpen as Ortiz stepped to the plate. Red Sox bullpen coach Dana Levangie was standing next to him.

"I remember Dana saying, 'If we score one, you're in,'" Dempster said. "I said, 'What if we score four?'

"Right then, he hit it."

They scored four. Ortiz's grand slam turned a 5-1 Tigers lead into a 5-5 tie. The Red Sox's bullpen was cheering but also scrambling.

Before the slam, Dempster and Junichi Tazawa were warming up. With the game tied heading to the ninth inning, though, neither one of them was coming in. In the ninth inning of a tied playoff game at home, manager John Farrell wanted closer Koji Uehara. Uehara pitched a scoreless ninth, and when the Red Sox won the game in the bottom of the ninth, he was the winning pitcher.

The box score says Dempster took no part in Game 2. He wouldn't appear in the ALCS until the sixth inning of Game 4.

He did play a part, though. A very small part.

He called it.

"He did," Levangie said. "He's all about the four-run home run."

One small point, though. When Dempster saw Torii Hunter come flying into the bullpen, he was ready to take his call back.

"I thought he caught it, actually," Dempster said. "You couldn't tell right away."

-- Danny Knobler