ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Jonathan Papelbon put the
exclamation point on Boston's comeback.
Papelbon struck out all three batters he faced, Jason Varitek
hit a tiebreaking single in a four-run ninth inning and Manny
Ramirez homered and tripled, leading the Red Sox past the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays 9-6 on Saturday night.
"That wasn't shaping up as a real fun night," Boston manager
Terry Francona said. "I think what's gratifying is just their
attitude of, OK, we'll just keep playing, and we did a great job of
that."
Trailing 6-5, the Red Sox loaded the bases with none out in the
ninth against Tyler Walker (0-1) on a single and two walks. He
struck out Ramirez on a 3-2 pitch before Trot Nixon walked to tie
it.
"I thought there was a chance there," Walker said. "The walk
did me in. You can't defense a walk."
Varitek put Boston up 7-6 with an RBI single to right. The Red
Sox made it 9-6 on Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring
single by Wily Mo Pena off Dan Miceli.
Papelbon needed 14 pitches in the bottom half to earn his 10th
save in 10 chances. He became the first big league pitcher to get
10 saves in April after entering that season without a save.
"He's a special young man," Varitek said. "He does a lot of
little things that help him. Pretty good split, pretty good slider.
He has a lot of things to work with."
Papelbon has a scoreless streak of 20 1-3 innings spanning 17
appearances dating to last year. He also set a major league rookie
record and the Red Sox team mark for saves during April.
Jonny Gomes homered during his first four-hit game for the Devil
Rays.
Gomes doubled off Keith Foulke (2-1) leading off the eighth. He
went to third on Ty Wigginton's fly to center and scored on Toby
Hall's sacrifice fly to left for a 6-5 lead. It appeared that
Ramirez's throw hit Gomes on the leg.
Boston stopped a three-game skid.
The Red Sox and Devil Rays have traded beanballs and been
involved in several brawls in recent years, and Saturday was no
exception.
Tampa Bay's Doug Waechter hit Alex Cora near the hip on a 2-2
pitch with two outs in the third and slugger David Ortiz on deck.
Ortiz ended the inning on a broken-bat grounder.
Carl Crawford was the first Devil Rays batter in the third and
was hit in the leg by a 1-1 pitch from Boston starter Lenny
DiNardo, which prompted a warning by plate umpire Mike Winters.
"I was actually really surprised," DiNardo said. "There's no
way I'm going to throw at Crawford in that situation. It was a
curveball that I just didn't reach out on."
Gomes made DiNardo pay two pitches later when he hit a two-run
homer to put Tampa Bay ahead 4-0. Gomes set a team record for a
month with his 11th homer in April.
Ramirez hit a solo shot and Kevin Youkilis drove in two runs
with a bases-loaded double during a four-run sixth that tied it at
4.
Ramirez leads all visiting players with 21 homers and 57 RBI --
in 57 games -- at Tropicana Field. He broke a tie with Andre Dawson
for 33rd place on baseball's career list with his 439th homer.
Hall put Tampa Bay ahead 5-4 with a sixth-inning homer. Nixon
tied it in the seventh on a sacrifice fly that drove in Ramirez,
who tripled. Ramirez went into a home run trot before sprinting
from near first to third on a deep fly into the right-field corner
that hit the wall and then caromed into right-center.
"I thought it was going out," Francona said. "He kicked into
gear and went to third."
Tampa Bay loaded the bases with none out in the first, but
scored just once when Wigginton hit into a double play. Greg
Norton's solo shot -- his first homer since May 9, 2004 -- made it
2-0 one inning later.
Waechter allowed three runs and three hits in 5 1-3 innings.
DiNardo gave up four runs and six hits over five innings.
Game notes
Gomes is the 13th major leaguer to hit 11 homers in April.
... Ortiz was in the lineup one day after getting hit on the right
elbow by a pitch. He had the elbow examined by a team doctor.