BOSTON (AP) – Jason Bay and J.D. Drew homered in Boston’s second straight big sixth inning and the Red Sox stopped the Tampa Bay Rays’ longest winning streak of the year with a 7-3 win Friday night.

One night after the Red Sox equaled a modern major-league record and set an AL mark with 12 runs against Cleveland before making an out in an inning, five batters scored before the first out was recorded in the sixth.

Bay tied the game with a three-run homer and Drew made it 5-3 with a two-run shot off James Shields (3-3). Bay also hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning of the 13-3 win over the Indians, the last hit in the barrage.

The Red Sox improved to 17-5 in their last 22 games. Tampa Bay’s winning streak ended at three. Brad Penny (3-1) faced Shields for the second time in six days. He allowed three runs in his first four innings and left with runners at first and second with one out in the seventh. Hideki Okajima then retired Carl Crawford on a fly out and struck out Evan Longoria.

Crawford had his second straight outstanding game against Penny and the Sox. Five days earlier in a 5-3 win over Boston, he tied a modern major-league record with six stolen bases and went 4-for-4, including 2-for-2 with a walk against Penny.

On Friday, Crawford singled, stole second and scored on Pat Burrell’s single in the first then tripled and made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Longoria in the third. He hit a ground-rule double in the fifth but was stranded.

Just before Crawford came to bat in the seventh, Boston manager Terry Francona lifted the right-handed Penny for the lefty-lefty matchup that Okajima won. The Rays had taken a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Jason Bartlett doubled home Gabe Gross, who had singled.

Then came the inning when the Red Sox bats come alive.

Shields had retired five straight batters before Dustin Pedroia opened the sixth with a single when second baseman Akinori Iwamura had trouble getting a grip on the ball. David Ortiz then walked and Bay tied it with his ninth homer of the year and fourth in five games.

A moment after Bay made contact, an upset Shields swiped the mound dirt with a quick underhanded motion.

The Red Sox added two runs in the ninth on a single by Lugo, a run-scoring double by Jacoby Ellsbury and an RBI-single by Pedroia.

Notes:Shields is 1-2 against Boston this year. … Bay moved ahead of Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena and into second place in the AL with 33 RBIs. Longoria leads the league with 39 and Pena has 30. … Of Crawford’s major-league best 21 steals, 10 have been against Boston. … Longoria’s 11-game hitting streak ended. … DH Ortiz and CF Ellsbury returned to Boston’s lineup. Ortiz missed one game with a stiff neck and Ellsbury missed two with a tight right hamstring. 1B Kevin Youkilis sat out his fourth straight with tightness in his left side. … Tampa Bay CF B.J. Upton was back in the lineup after a stomach virus kept him out of Thursday night’s game at the New York Yankees.

AP-ES-05-08-09 2209EDT


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