BOSTON (AP) – Jason Varitek and Bill Mueller each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8-4 Tuesday night for their third win in four games.

Varitek, Orlando Cabrera, Mueller and Kevin Youkilis – the bottom four hitters in Boston’s lineup – drove in two runs each. The Red Sox improved to 8-3 against Tampa Bay this season.

Bronson Arroyo (5-8) allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out six and walking two.

Manny Ramirez started in left field and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after missing three straight games because of the flu. He batted third for just the second time this season.

Tampa Bay was looking to win two straight on the road for the first time since July 6-7 at Baltimore. Jorge Sosa (3-1), a converted outfielder in just his fourth season as a pitcher, started with four perfect innings but wound up giving up seven runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Jose Cruz Jr.’s sacrifice fly put the Devil Rays ahead in the fourth, but Boston took a 3-1 lead in the fifth on Varitek’s RBI double, Cabrera’s run-scoring grounder and Mueller’s RBI single.

Rocco Baldelli’s two-run triple tied the score in the sixth, but Varitek hit a go-ahead single with two outs in the bottom half and Cabrera’s run-scoring single chased Sosa.

Mueller greeted Bobby Seay with another RBI single, and Youkilis hit a two-run double off the wall in left-center.

Notes: Boston reliever Scott Williamson is to have another MRI exam of his swollen right forearm Friday. … Curtis Leskanic (right shoulder tendinitis), who went on the disabled list on July 25, threw 20 pitches in the bullpen before throwing a 15-pitch simulated game. … Baldelli was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

AP-ES-08-10-04 2153EDT