ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – TBS had technical difficulties that prevented it from showing the first 20 minutes of Game 6 of the American League championship series between Boston and Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

The game started at 8:08 p.m., but the broadcast didn’t begin until 8:28 p.m., when Carlos Pena, the seventh batter of the game, walked in the bottom of the first. TBS then showed a replay of a home run by B.J. Upton, the previous batter, that put the Rays ahead 1-0.

TBS had experienced router failure in Atlanta, which caused transmission problems, Rays spokesman Dave Haller said.

TBS spokesman Jeff Pomeroy didn’t immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Major League Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said MLB was unaware there was a problem until the broadcast failed to come on the air. No consideration was given to delaying the start of the game because the starting pitchers already had warmed up, Levin said.

When the top of the second inning began, broadcaster Chip Caray said: “We again apologize profusely for the technical difficulties we had back in Atlanta. You haven’t missed much.”

In place of the game, TBS had televised an episode of “The Steve Harvey Show.” A crawl on the screen ran repeatedly, saying: “We are experiencing technical difficulties.”

Tampa Bay, seeking its first World Series appearance, led the best-of-seven series 3-2 after wasting a 7-0, seventh-inning lead in Game 5 and losing 8-7 to the defending champion Red Sox.

At the Cask N Flagon outside Fenway Park, manager Mike Fusco said the hour – from the pregame show until the game was restored – “wasn’t real fun.”

“People were in a little uproar because they thought we didn’t put the game on. They were just screaming at us to put it on and try all the other stations – Fox, TNT,” Fusco said.

Finally, Fusco said the staff had to use a PA system to explain the technical problems to the capacity crowd of 700.

Some customers yelled for them to at least put the game on the radio, but the bar didn’t have one.

“People watched “Steve Harvey’ until it came on,” Fusco said.

Lester looks ahead to Game 7 in ALCS

Jon Lester was ready to start Game 7 of the AL championship series for Boston on Sunday. He just had to wait for the Red Sox to win Game 6.

“You can’t get your emotions one way or another,” Lester said Saturday. “You have to wait and see and, hopefully, we can pull it off and then come tomorrow, turn the switch on, and go get them.”

Lester said the opportunity to pitch the Red Sox back into the World Series would be “definitely exciting.”

“It’ll be a lot of fun,” the left-hander said.

Lester stayed with his regular-season routine in preparing for a potential Game 7.

“I’ve done the same workouts, and done everything that I normally do in between starts,” Lester said. “It’s just a matter of mentally staying focused enough to come out and pitch a good game.”

Right-hander Matt Garza would start for Tampa Bay in Game 7.

Bad rerun

Tampa Bay’s collapse in Game 5 wasn’t the first potential AL pennant-clincher that manager Joe Maddon watched slip away.

Maddon was a minor league manager in the Anaheim organization when the Angels were one strike from the 1986 pennant. Then Boston’s Dave Henderson homered en route to an extra-innings victory in Game 5, and the Red Sox went on to the World Series.

“In ’86, I was sitting behind the first-base dugout, and everything was going swimmingly,” Maddon recalled. “All of a sudden, the one-handed home run to left-center, and things changed.”

Maddon was confident Tampa Bay would recover from its 8-7 loss in Game 5 – the first time since 1929 that a team took a seven-run lead in a postseason game and failed to win.

“Quite frankly, as I’ve said before, every situation is unique unto itself. It always depends on how you react to the moment,” the manager said. “From our perspective, I think during the course of the season, we’ve reacted well.”

Heating up

Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew had an up-and-down regular season, due in part to a series of injuries.

Drew was the AL player of the month in June, when he hit .337 with 12 homers and 27 RBIs. He struggled late in the season after missing 33 games with a back injury.

The left-handed slugger hit a two-run homer off Dan Wheeler in the eighth inning and followed with the winning single in the ninth.

“He went down for about six weeks, and it was kind of iffy if he was even going to come back,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “Not only has he come back, but he’s gotten huge hits.”