Pedroia turns night around with winning homer

ANAHEIM — Dustin Pedroia was having a bad day when he stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon in what would turn into a wild, 5-3 win over the Angels.

But the beauty of it for Pedroia was that he was still in the game, and still in position to belt a three-run homer that was as big as any hit the Red Sox have had this season.

With two outs in the ninth, and the Red Sox down by two runs, Pedroia changed the entire day with one big swing on a 1-0 slider by Angels closer Huston Street. Pedroia scorched one over the wall in center, and set off an eruption in Boston’s dugout that was practically still going on when Xander Bogaerts followed with a homer of his own.

Leading up to that at-bat, Pedroia had struck out three times and grounded out.

“There’s 27 outs to get,” said Pedroia. “I think I struck out my first three times. It’s not like I was going to go cry or anything. You keep playing the game. That’s the way baseball is. We’re all professional and we’re all going to try to win for 27 outs.”

Pedroia might have come close to being ejected by home-plate umpire Gabe Morales in the fifth, when he was called out looking on a high curveball by Tyler Skaggs.

But manager John Farrell …

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