BOSTON – The best record in the majors, another strong performance by John Lackey, an excellent chance to take the lead in the ninth inning – it was all just wasted by the Los Angeles Angels.

One night after snapping an 11-game postseason losing streak against the defending World Series champions, Los Angeles lost 3-2 Monday night as Boston advanced to the AL championship series starting Friday at Tampa Bay.

The Angels: winners of the AL West by 21 games, eliminated in just four.

They won eight of nine regular-season games against the Red Sox but lost the best-of-five series when rookie Jed Lowrie's two-out single off Scot Shields drove in Jason Bay with the winning run in the ninth.

In a series filled with missed opportunities for the Angels, the final – and perhaps the costliest – one occurred in the final inning.

Pinch-hitter Kendry Morales hit a leadoff double in the ninth and Reggie Willits, running for Morales, advanced on Howie Kendrick's sacrifice.

Erick Aybar took the first two pitches from Manny Delcarmen for balls. Then came the play Angels manager Mike Scioscia may be thinking about long into the offseason.

Aybar, who drove in the go-ahead run in Sunday night's win, squared around to bunt and missed as Willits started for home. Catcher Jason Varitek chased him back toward third and tagged him about a step from the base. Varitek tumbled and the ball fell out of his glove as he hit the ground. Scioscia argued, but umpire Tim Welke stuck to his out call.

“He's our anchor back there,” Bay said. “Running Reggie down there, he's a fast runner. That speaks volumes.”

Torii Hunter hit a two-run single for the Angels in the eighth and was 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the series. The rest of the team had three hits in those situations.

That left Lackey with little support – again.

He was outdueled by Jon Lester in the series opener, a 4-1 Red Sox win in which the Angels were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They led 1-0 through five innings before Lackey gave up Bay's two-run homer in the sixth. The right-hander allowed just those two runs in 6 2-3 innings. Lester gave up one in seven.

Game 4 Monday night: same matchup, same result. But the starters had left the game before the go-ahead run scored.

The Angels finished with 100 wins in the regular season and lost to the Red Sox in the first round of the postseason for the second straight year.