Young coming through when it counts most

BOSTON -- Delmon Young led off the third inning of Wednesday's Wild Card Game in Cleveland with a home run to give the Rays a one-run lead. It was Young's ninth career postseason homer, all coming since 2011 -- tops in the Major Leagues over that span.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, five of those nine home runs have been go-ahead shots, two more than anybody during that span. To put that in perspective, in the regular season since 2011, Young has only six go-ahead homers, and 116 players have more homers overall.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, only 10 players in postseason history have hit more go-ahead homers than Young.

"I think he's done a really good job, just seeing him from afar before, people think he's aggressive, but he does a good job staying in his hitting zones," hitting coach Derek Shelton said. "And he has a really good idea of how at-bats work and how counts work. He's a young guy, but he's a veteran guy. I've been really impressed how he controls at-bats."

Shelton added that the Rays were lucky to pick him up in August.

"Especially because this is a guy who is proven in the postseason," he said. "This is a guy who was the MVP of the ALCS last year. So any time you can pick up a proven guy who has played in games like this, it's huge.

"We've been left-handed dominant a little bit. So any time we can get more right-handed or a right-handed power bat, it makes it better."