David Ortiz's grand slam changed a series (and a season). Will Middlebrooks' double simply changed a game.

And Brian Butterfield's stop sign set up the drama.

When the eighth inning of Game 2 began, the Red Sox had just three hits. They'd scored one run but hadn't put a runner in scoring position with less than two outs against Max Scherzer.

So Middlebrooks' one-out double off reliever Jose Veras gave the Sox some hope. When Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a walk, Red Sox fans could start to dream. And even though Al Alburquerque struck out Shane Victorino, Boston had Dustin Pedroia and Ortiz due up.

Butterfield, the Red Sox's third-base coach, considered all that. He thought about how much a single run might create some momentum. He thought about Torii Hunter's arm in right field.

"Certainly a guy you don't want to mess with," Butterfield said later.

When Pedroia shot an Alburquerque fastball through the right side, Middlebrooks took off hard from second base. Butterfield, positioned almost halfway between third base and home plate, watched Hunter charge the ball in right.

The stop sign went up.

"That was huge, because in my mind, I was scoring," Middlebrooks said that night. "I didn't see the ball, but 'Butter' had it all the way."

Butterfield wasn't going to take a chance on scoring a run when the downside to the risk was losing an Ortiz at-bat with a chance to tie the game.

And Middlebrooks immediately understood.

"We needed something to happen," he said. "Getting David to the plate in the eighth inning was huge. I grew up watching the guy come through in moments like that."

Was Butterfield thinking grand slam?

"Absolutely, I thought it," Butterfield said, months later. "I'm giving you the honest-to-goodness truth."

He thought it, and he saw it. But as Butterfield watched Ortiz's drive soar toward the Red Sox's bullpen, he had another thought.

"When [Hunter] went over [the fence], I wasn't sure," Butterfield said. "I didn't know if he caught it or not.

"Then I heard the roar from the crowd."

Hunter didn't catch it. The game, and the series, had changed.

The season, too.

-- Danny Knobler