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Navarro, Rays walk off with win

Sep 17, 2008 - 4:07 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- With first place in the American League East at stake, the Tampa Bay Rays survived their biggest test on Tuesday.

Dioner Navarro's single to deep center field with one out in the ninth inning lifted the Rays to a 2-1 victory over the Red Sox.

Carlos Pena added a solo home run for Tampa Bay (89-60), which regained a one-game lead over Boston (89-62) in the AL East.

The Rays have held at least a share of first place since the day after the All-star break.

Starters Andy Sonnanstine and Josh Beckett were brilliant, but the game ultimately was decided by the bullpens.

"It's all about starting pitchers every night, not just tonight," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "We played well this year because of that and defense. Sonnanstine was spectacular. The bullpen did their thing once again. It was quite a game."

After Justin Masterson (6-5) replaced Beckett to start the ninth, Jason Bartlett flared a single to short right and Pena walked.

Masterson struck out Evan Longoria but hit Cliff Floyd to load the bases for Navarro, who drove a fly ball over a drawn-in outfield to plate Bartlett from third and end the game.

"I was just trying to make something happen," Navarro said. "I was trying to hit the ball up the middle and I'm glad I hit it hard enough to go far enough for the run to score."

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the sixth on Kevin Youkilis' sacrifice fly.

However, Pena hit his 29th homer on the first pitch of the seventh inning off Beckett to pull Tampa Bay even at 1-1.

"We talk a lot about momentum and we are looking for the shift of momentum. I thought things starting going our way a little bit toward the end of the game," Pena said. "And it's huge in baseball. You see how rallies start and things start developing, and it's like synergy."

Sonnanstine, who has lost only once in his last nine outings, allowed three hits and an unearned run in six innings. He struck out five and walked two.

"It's big pitching like this, especially facing a guy like Beckett," Sonnanstine said. "He's one of the better pitchers in the league, so I knew I had to be on."

Beckett, who is 5-1 in his last eight starts, lasted eight innings, allowing one run and three hits while walking one and striking out seven.

"Beckett was tremendous," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "The run he gave up was a first-pitch breaking ball that Pena hits the other way."

Tampa Bay had only five base runners against Beckett, while the Red Sox managed nine against Sonnanstine and three relievers.

"Tampa Bay is doing it with pitching, for the most part," Boston captain Jason Varitek said. "We have to find a way to combat that and make sure we get the same pitching. We just have to come out and play our game (in Wednesday's series finale), get a quality start from (Tim Wakefield) and take our chances."