Red Sox force decisive Game 7

ST. PETERSBURG -- Two days after pulling out that astounding and historic comeback that earned them this ticket to Tropicana Field for Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox had no desire for such stress-inflicted heroics. They just needed a workmanlike win to push this riveting series with the Tampa Bay Rays to the limit, and that's precisely what they got.

In Saturday's 4-2 victory over the Rays, the big hits were spread throughout the contest instead of being saved for the tense final moments. Perhaps no hit was bigger than the solo homer by Jason Varitek, who snapped out of an 0-for-14 drought in the ALCS to break a 2-2 tie with two outs in the sixth. The Red Sox led for the rest of the night.

After falling behind, 3-1, in this ALCS, Boston has forced Game 7, just like it did in 2004 and '07. In the previous two occasions, the Red Sox were successful in moving on to the World Series. They hope the third attempt will be equally charmed.

Jon Lester, Mr. Consistency all year for the Sox, will take the ball Sunday night hoping to avenge a rare shaky outing in Game 3. Matt Garza, who beat Lester in that matchup, will be Tampa Bay's Game 7 starter.

To get to Lester, the Red Sox got a gritty performance by Josh Beckett, who seemed to be pitching at less than 100 percent. Beckett gave Boston five innings, allowing four hits and two runs, walking one and striking out three. The biggest clue that Beckett was hurting was the sight of Javier Lopez warming up in the bullpen throughout the fourth and Hideki Okajima following suit in the fifth.

In Beckett's final inning, he surrendered a game-tying homer to left by No. 9 hitter Jason Bartlett, who went deep just once in the regular season. Though Beckett's velocity was down to 88-90 mph for much of the inning, he was able to reach back for a 93-mph fastball to get Akinori Iwamura on a groundout to end the inning. That was all for Beckett, who threw 78 pitches.

Red Sox in Game 6sWith a win Saturday vs. the Rays, the Red Sox are 8-0 in Game 6s when they are trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven or best-of-nine postseason series.YearSeriesFoeGame 6Series1903WSPittsburghWonWon in 81967WSSt. LouisWonLost in 71975WSCincinnatiWonLost in 71986ALCSCaliforniaWonWon in 72003ALCSNew YorkWonLost in 72004ALCSNew YorkWonWon in 72007ALCSClevelandWonWon in 72008ALCSRaysWon???

"I thought Josh did a very good job," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He got to the fifth and left a breaking ball out to Bartlett that at the time ties it, but we come right back and put two on the board. I don't think it was real easy for him at times, but he pitched with a lot of composure and a lot of guts."

The bullpen took it from there, setting up the much-anticipated showdown on Sunday night.

After Varitek's homer against Rays starter James Shields put Boston in front, the offense kept rallying in that sixth, aided a little by the Rays. Coco Crisp belted a single off of second baseman Iwamura and into short right. Dustin Pedroia hit a grounder to short that Bartlett made a poor throw to first on. The error set up runners at the corners for David Ortiz, and the big designated hitter lofted an RBI single into right-center to make it a 4-2 game.

For the fifth straight game, the Rays struck with some quick offense. It was delivered off the bat of B.J. Upton, who crushed a Beckett fastball off the C-ring catwalk for a solo homer with one out in the bottom of the first.

The Red Sox didn't take long to respond. Kevin Youkilis opened the second by hammering a 89-mph fastball by Shields for a solo shot to left to tie the game.

Pedroia got a rally started in the third by drawing a one-out walk. Ortiz followed by ripping a double down the line in right. Youkilis, Boston's best RBI man all year, did his job, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead with a fielder's-choice grounder to short.

As the Red Sox got set to bat in the fourth, the Rays came off the field. The reason? Home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins had to leave the game with chest pain, which likely resulted from a hard foul tip by Varitek in the second. After a 15-minute delay, crew chief Tim McClelland switched from first base to home plate.

Looking ahead to Sunday's Game 7, Francona said, "It's going to come down to who plays better. It's probably pretty appropriate. We come down to the last game, and whoever plays better gets to move on.

"We have a lot of respect for how good they've played, but we also really like our ballclub. Like I said, it's probably appropriate."