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MINNEAPOLIS -- David Ortiz has told the story many times of his first spring with the Red Sox, how he morphed from being a raw hitter to "Big Papi" after the team removed the shackles the Minnesota Twins had placed on him early in his career.

The story usually goes something like this: Ortiz returned to the dugout after his groundout helped advance a runner, following the small-ball approach the Twins had hard-wired into him, when then-Red Sox manager Grady Little said to him, "You're not on the Twins anymore. You've got to drive that runner in."

Ortiz has spent the better part of his career making the Twins pay for their repression. He entered Saturday's game with a career .323 average, 13 homers and 37 RBIs in 52 games against Minnesota, and on Saturday night, he gave the Twins another painful reminder of what they could have had at Target Field had they kept Ortiz all these years, instead of letting him go after the 2002 season.

Ortiz hit two homers -- posting his 40th multihomer game and his first since June 25, 2012 -- and drove in six runs in the Red Sox's 12-5 romp over the Twins. It was Ortiz's 38th multihomer game with the Red Sox, passing Ted Williams for most in team history. Ortiz also reached base four times in five plate appearances. And in a park that's supposed to be tough for left-handed hitters, Ortiz continued to look right at home.

He now has homered five times in 10 career games at Target Field, driving in 16 runs in those games and batting .500 in the Twins' ballpark, which opened in 2010. At this point in his career, Ortiz has done so much in a Red Sox uniform that his time with the Twins will be little more than a footnote, and he has conducted such a thorough assault on his old team that he even admitted it doesn't give him much of a thrill these days.

"It used to be [special], but not anymore," he said. "I just go about my business. You guys have seen me. I try to hit the moon every time I go to hit anywhere. It's not new."

The Red Sox, however, have to be grateful for Ortiz's timing. They had lost nine of 11 after beginning the season 20-9, dropping three of four against Minnesota earlier this month, when Ortiz caught fire. He is 8-for-15 in his past four games, driving in eight runs in that time, and the Red Sox have won them all.

They were able to overcome a ragged pitching performance from Ryan Dempster on Saturday night, and while Ortiz spread the credit around when asked what was going right for the Red Sox, it was hard not to make him the focal point of it.

"Certainly, the performance is as good as you're going to find around the league right now," manager John Farrell said. "This is a guy that's got a long history and a lot of production. He hits both lefties and righties, as we saw again tonight, and it's the consistency with which he goes about his work. ... It's no coincidence he has the performance he does. He's a very good hitter who has the ability to combine average and power."

Ortiz's 17th year in the majors has already been eventful, whether he was grabbing a microphone to rally Bostonians after the Boston Marathon bombings or lashing out at the suggestion that performance-enhancing drugs could be behind his production at age 37.

His on-field performance alone, though, has been astounding. He is hitting .362 for the season, having blasted seven homers and driven in 29 runs in only 24 games. Ortiz said his sore left oblique muscle is continuing to get better, and if he stays healthy the rest of the season, the man who has finished in the top four of the American League MVP race four times might finally have a shot to win the award for the first time.

He certainly has benefited from playing his old team in its new ballpark. The Twins, undoubtedly, will be happy not to see Ortiz at Target Field again this season after Sunday.

"The one guy we say don't let beat us is David Ortiz," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They've got a lot of really good hitters over there, but we told them, 'Stay away from this guy. Don't give into him.' He keeps sending souvenirs."

MINNEAPOLIS -- Two weeks after a series against the Minnesota Twins sent them on a long slide, the Red Sox have used their return set to get on a roll.

Behind David Ortiz's first two-homer game since last summer, the Red Sox beat the Twins 12-5 on Saturday night, winning the first two games of the series and extending their winning streak to four.

Boston now has won more than three consecutive games for the first time since April 24-28, and the Red Sox have a chance to sweep the Twins on Sunday.

They earned that opportunity despite a laborious outing from Ryan Dempster, whose 127 pitches only got him through 4 2/3 innings. Dempster, who threw eight innings of shutout ball in his last trip to Target Field as a member of the Cubs last June, fought with his control all night, walking six batters and giving up eight hits.

It was the first time in Dempster's 16-year career that he'd thrown more than 125 pitches and failed to get out of the fifth inning, and he came an out short of being eligible to record a win off the Red Sox's offensive bounty.

The scoring started early off left-hander Scott Diamond, as Ortiz swatted a three-run homer in the first inning. Then, in the seventh inning, after the Twins had pulled within two runs, Ortiz ripped another homer to right-center off Anthony Swarzak, keying a four-run inning that put the game away.

Ortiz, who also had a RBI single and a walk, finished the night with six runs driven in. Dustin Pedroia reached base five times in six plate appearances, scoring three runs, Mike Napoli added three walks to a single, and Daniel Nava added a solo home run.

Craig Breslow, who threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings while the Red Sox were extending their lead in the sixth and seventh innings, was awarded the win.

Boston still was unable to pull back into a tie for first in the AL East after the Yankees beat Toronto, but the Red Sox should get right fielder Shane Victorino back on Sunday, and could also put shortstop Stephen Drew back in the lineup.

Those players, combined with an offense that found its groove on Saturday night, could help the Red Sox to a five-game winning streak before they head to Chicago for three games against the White Sox.

Red Sox reliever Andrew Bailey pitched one inning in a rehab outing for Pawtucket on Saturday night against Indianapolis, allowing one run and two hits (a home run to outfielder Brett Carroll and a double to catcher Tony Sanchez) while striking out two.

Manager John Farrell had said on Thursday that Bailey, who is on the disabled list with a strained right biceps, is on track to be activated Monday in Chicago.

With Joel Hanrahan facing season-ending surgery for a torn flexor muscle in his right elbow, Bailey will slide back into the closer's role, Farrell said. Bailey has been on the disabled list since May 6, retroactive to April 29.

Bailey last pitched on April 28, when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit, against the Houston Astros. Before being hurt, Bailey had run off five saves in five chances, striking out 11 in six innings and holding opponents to a .100 batting average (2-for-20).

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Red Sox fielded an unorthodox lineup for the second straight day at Target Field on Saturday, and Shane Victorino's back wasn't the only one manager John Farrell had to worry about.

Shortstop Stephen Drew also was out of Farrell's lineup on Saturday because of back troubles, leading Farrell to start Pedro Ciriaco against left-hander Scott Diamond and the Minnesota Twins.

Victorino, who injured his back running into the right-field wall against Tampa Bay on Thursday, said he is planning to return on Sunday, and Farrell said he hopes Drew also will return for the series finale against the Twins. The absence of the two players, though, complicated things for Farrell on a night when he already was trying to solve a tough platoon split.

The Red Sox, who are hitting .239 against left-handers this season, were preparing to face Twins lefty Scott Diamond, who was the team's best pitcher in 2012.

The switch-hitting Victorino, who has a .298 career average against lefties, might have especially helped the Red Sox against Diamond. Boston will face another left-hander, Pedro Hernandez, on Sunday.

One thing in the Red Sox's favor is the recent production of outfielder Jonny Gomes, whose ability to pound left-handed pitching has been a major reason why he's played 11 seasons in the majors. Gomes hit second in the order, playing left field.

Gomes has an .887 career OPS against lefties, as opposed to a .729 mark against righties, and while he's only got one hit in a four-game stretch in which he's started every day, he drew a pair of walks and drove in the winning run in a 10-inning victory over the Twins on Friday night.

"He's had good at-bats against right-handers (too)," Farrell said. "He had a base hit against Jamey Wright in Tampa, he's taken some walks, he's laid off some breaking balls that are either on the edge or off the plate. Jonny's track record kind of shows that early in the season, it takes him a while to get going. He's getting more regular at-bats, and on this trip, he's going to have a number of at-bats and games played consecutively. We could sure use what he's capable of."

If the right-handed Gomes could give the Red Sox a boost, they were still looking for one from leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury, who drove in a run on Friday night but finished 1-for-5, continuing a month-long funk that has him hitting .169. Farrell had planned on giving Ellsbury the night off if Victorino had been available.

Ellsbury is hitting just .247 this season, amid speculation that his impending free agency might be causing him to put too much pressure on himself, and Farrell said on Saturday he is still looking to see consistency return to Ellsbury's approach at the plate.

"There's times where he'll show good patience. He'll work deep into a count," Farrell said. "And in the next at-bat, maybe he'll look a bit over-aggressive, trying to make something happen. It comes down to timing because we've seen him where he's squared up some balls, he gets on base and he'll create some havoc.

"But the consistency he's made himself known for is a little elusive right now. He's a key part for this ballclub. We need him, and we need to work with him to get him going. That's ongoing, every day, but his consistency has a huge effect on who we are offensively."

Shane Victorino is out of the lineup for the second consecutive day after hurting his back while running into the wall making a catch Thursday night against the Rays.

Jonny Gomes, whose sacrifice fly in the 10th inning Friday provided the winning run, will bat second and play left field, with Daniel Nava in right.

Here's the full lineup:

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Jonny Gomes, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, RF
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Ryan Lavarnway, C
Pedro Ciriaco, SS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Before Friday night, Will Middlebrooks hadn't attempted a sacrifice bunt since 2008, when he was a 19-year-old in his first season of professional baseball at Single-A Lowell.

But there the big third baseman was in the 10th inning at Target Field, putting a 1-0 slider down to move the go-ahead run to third base. Two batters later, Jonny Gomes lifted a sacrifice fly to center field that brought Dustin Pedroia home and staked the Red Sox to a 3-2 victory.

It was the kind of small-ball sequence employed more by the team the Red Sox beat -- the Minnesota Twins -- than a club whose sabermetric-loving, walks-and-homers ways have made them the antithesis of the Twins in recent years. But two months into the Red Sox's grand reinvention, Middlebrooks' bunt was emblematic of a team that's proving it can win in several ways.

"This is a smart team, in terms of guys knowing the game, how it's to be played, what situations call for," manager John Farrell said. "I think guys look beyond themselves when they're asked to execute, such as Will did tonight."

Boston improved to 7-4 in one-run games this season, after going 17-22 in such contests last year. In 2012, the Red Sox were 2-10 in extra innings. It took them all of four extra-inning contests in 2013 to surpass that win total.

On Friday night, they looked like they were heading toward another loss to a team that snatched three of four games from them earlier this month, but a walk and a pair of singles in the seventh inning tied the game.

And then, as Boston's pitchers were in the middle of retiring 17 straight Twins, Middlebrooks stepped to the plate with pinch runner Pedro Ciriaco on first and Pedroia on second.

He had little experience from which to draw -- only that sacrifice bunt in Lowell and the two or three bunts he estimates he attempts in batting practice each day. But Middlebrooks, who banged a three-run double to help the Red Sox win on Thursday night, knew the situation called for a subtler response on Friday.

"It's an ideal situation to bunt," he said. "My number was called, and I just tried to get the job done -- move those guys over so we can get the run in."

None of this is to suggest that the Red Sox are about to make a habit of inching runners along. They still rank third in the American League in slugging percentage, are second in walks and second in strikeouts.

But a team that had scored at least 800 runs in each of the previous 10 seasons stumbled to 69-93 in 2012 when it could only push 734 runs across the plate and its pitching staff crumbled. This year's club has both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz -- who allowed two runs in seven innings on Friday night -- at the top of their games and has survived a rash of bullpen breakdowns. On Friday, Andrew Miller, Alex Wilson and Koji Uehara combined for three scoreless innings.

And, as Middlebrooks proved, these Red Sox have some versatility to them.

"We don't want to be the heart-attack kids, but it's a good character check for us, with [Buchholz] really bearing down and giving us a chance to win the ballgame," Gomes said. "Of course, the bullpen did great, and Will's bunt is huge. It says a lot about different ways you can win."

MINNEAPOLIS -- When the Red Sox last played the Minnesota Twins, they lost three of four at Fenway Park and slipped back into a tie for first place for the first time in a month. They haven't been back atop the AL East since then, and they will have to wait at least another day to tie the Yankees for the division lead.

But in what looked like it could have been another aggravating loss to the Twins, the Red Sox at least managed not to give up any ground.

They scored in the 10th inning on a Jonny Gomes sacrifice fly to claim a 3-2 victory.

The Twins didn't put a runner on base after the fifth inning, but still looked like they might escape with a victory after managing to get to Clay Buchholz again.

Buchholz had won his first six starts of the year before facing the Twins on May 6, when he was tagged for four runs in six innings, the right-hander's worst start of the season.

That outing also started a streak of no-decisions, which reached three on Friday night because of a first-pitch curveball Buchholz threw to light-hitting shortstop Pedro Florimon, of all people.

Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia had set up on the outside corner of the plate, but Buchholz yanked the pitch to the inner half of the plate, and Florimon golfed it barely over the right-field wall for his second home run of the year.

The two-run homer was the only damage Buchholz would give up -- he allowed just four hits and struck out nine in seven innings. But it wasn't enough for him to earn the win as the Red Sox, who squandered several chances earlier in the game, needed a run in the seventh inning to tie the game.

Boston got the go-ahead run in the 10th after loading the bases on reliever Josh Roenicke and getting a sacrifice fly from Gomes, who hit a ball to center field that Aaron Hicks double-clutched before throwing home.

MINNEAPOLIS -- For the second time in a week, Shane Victorino is feeling the effects of an ill-fated run-in with an outfield wall.

Victorino's sore back kept him from playing in Friday's series opener with the Minnesota Twins after he had crashed into the right-field wall on Thursday in Tampa Bay. The incident followed Victorino's running into Fenway Park's right-field wall on Sunday, but after that one, the Red Sox had an off day and Victorino had time to recover.

He didn't have that luxury on Friday, so manager John Farrell kept Victorino out of the lineup to give his back -- which has troubled Victorino on a few occasions this season -- time to heal.

"I want to be smart about it," Victorino said. "The last time, I missed a week."

Victorino did not play for the final week of April because of back troubles, and Farrell was hopeful on Friday that this incident wouldn't lead to a long absence.

"Obviously, he doesn't fear the wall, and he's been banged up the last couple of games," Farrell said. "Hopefully, it's a one-day thing."

Catcher Mike Napoli also was out of Boston's lineup on Friday night; with the team in the middle of a 20-game stretch without a day off, Farrell is juggling his lineup to create time off for some of his regulars.

Meanwhile, catcher David Ross still ailing from post-concussion symptoms.

Ross, who is on the seven-day concussion disabled list, was not ready to join the team in Minnesota and will be reevaluated on Monday in Boston.

In this week's edition of "State of the Nation," Gordon Edes looks at Thursday's ninth-inning win over the Rays and Daniel Bard's continuing struggles in the minors.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Fernando Rodney celebrates a save, and Tampa Bay victory, by pretending to launch an arrow into the heavens.

But how do you simulate being hoist by your own petard, which was Shakespeare's fancy way of describing a 16th-century criminal accidentally harming himself instead of his potential victims. Because that's precisely what Rodney did in the ninth inning Thursday night, when he walked the bases loaded with a two-run lead, then gave up a bases-clearing, two-out double to Will Middlebrooks.

Middlebrooks took a 100 mph fastball from Rodney with an 0-and-2 count for ball one, then ripped a 1-and-2 changeup into the left-center field gap, the ball rolling to the wall as three runs scored.

"Normally he buries that pitch and he left it up," said Middlebrooks, who doubled and homered in Wednesday night's 9-2 win and with every game is putting some distance between himself and the most horrific slump of his brief career.

Rodney never made it out of the inning, the imaginary archer carried off on his shield in a 4-3 Red Sox win that gave the Sox the rubber game in this three-game set with the Rays, after they lost the previous three series against the Rangers, Twins and Jays.

This was the first time the Sox have won a game when trailing after eight innings. They were 0-12 until Thursday night.

"Yes, I think it can have some carry-over," manager John Farrell said. "We've come through a pretty tough 10-day stretch, but I think what's most important the last couple of nights is [we used] the approach that we've used for the majority of the season. There was no give-up, no letdown. We took some close pitches, we load the bases via the walks, and yeah, down to the last strike ... "

Temporary closer Junichi Tazawa made it interesting by giving up nearly 800 feet in two fly balls that Shane Victorino ran down for outs in the eighth, then giving up a leadoff single to Luke Scott in the ninth. Ben Zobrist lined out to short and Tazawa struck out Evan Longoria on three pitches, but Yunel Escobar punched a two-strike pitch through the left side for a single, pinch runner Sam Fuld stopping at second.

That brought up James Loney, the erstwhile Sox first baseman who began the night as the American League's leading hitter and the majors' No. 1 line-drive producer. Loney fell behind 0-and-2, then grounded to shortstop Stephen Drew in an overshifted alignment for the final out.

The Sox won despite managing just four hits off five Tampa Bay pitchers.

Victorino came out of the game in the ninth after apparently being shaken up, either on his two catches or a failed attempt at a fly ball that fell foul.

Saying that Felix Doubront made a compelling case to keep his spot in the Red Sox's rotation is like saying your contractor did a heckuva job on your new house because the roof didn't cave in -- yet.

Walking six batters and leaving after issuing walk No. 6 to start the sixth inning was hardly the improvement the Sox had hoped to see in Doubront, whose regular return in the rotation was skipped the last time around to give a spot start to Allen Webster. The kid got lit up, but so did Doubront in relief (11 hits and 6 runs in 5 1/3 innings), and eight days later, the Sox were looking for signs Doubront was calibrated for better things.

Well, he gave up only three hits and struck out seven, but the Sox left-hander had men on base in every inning but the fourth, gave up a home run to Ryan Roberts, the No. 9 batter in the Tampa Bay order, and was at 104 pitches after walking James Loney to open the sixth.

The score was tied at the time, but didn't stay that way. Clayton Mortensen retired the first batter he faced on a force play, then walked catcher Jose Lobaton after being ahead in the count 0-and-2. Mortensen crossed up catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia with a pitch that resulted in a passed ball, the runners moving up, then walked Roberts to load the bases.

Desmond Jennings then hit a wedge shot past the diving Drew, the shortstop drawn in halfway, and Luke Scott greeted left-handed reliever Andrew Miller with a base hit that made it 3-1.

But maybe everything is relative. Both Farrell and Doubront said they saw progress.

"Much improved," Farrell insisted. "The work that he and Juan (Nieves, the pitching coach) have been doing between outings seemed to pay off. He was on the plate with his stuff, all three pitches. I thought he had better conviction to all the stuff he threw tonight. He pitched with a little sense of urgency tonight, which was good to see."

The Sox scored in the fourth on a double by Victorino and single by David Ortiz. They had just one other hit, a single by Dustin Pedroia in the sixth, off starter Alex Cobb. They put the tying runs on base in the ninth against Rodney, who opened the inning by walking Pedroia and Ortiz. Rodney struck out Mike Napoli, but then walked Daniel Nava on a full count to load the bases.

Rodney, following a visit by pitching coach Jim Hickey, struck out Drew on three pitches, Drew waving at a changeup for the third strike, leaving it up to Middlebrooks to tilt the evening back in Boston's favor.

"One pitch," said Rodney, less Robin Hood than Robin Punked. "Maybe the only pitch I threw bad and they hit it."

The Sox now head to Minnesota for the second stop on this three-city trip.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Boston Red Sox reliever Joel Hanrahan underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery Thursday, the team announced Thursday.

Dr. James Andrews, who performed the surgery, repaired the ulnar collateral ligament in Hanrahan's elbow as well as the torn flexor muscle with which he was originally diagnosed. Andrews also removed bone spurs from the elbow, according to a tweet from Mike Dillon of Reynolds Sports Management, one of Hanrahan's agents.

Typically, a pitcher is out from 12 to 16 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A major league scout who was here Thursday night said he was very close to pitcher Steve Blass, the former Pirate who mysteriously lost his ability to throw a baseball over the plate and was out of baseball within two years of developing what has become known as "Steve Blass disease."

"To this day, he says he can't explain why it happened," the scout said of Blass, now a broadcaster with the Pittsburgh Pirates. "He had pinpoint control, with a slider that he could throw on the black, and the next year in spring training, no one wanted to hit against him because he was maiming people.

"The brain is a strange muscle."

Blass' name came up during a discussion of Daniel Bard, the Red Sox reliever whose control issues have reached alarming proportions since he was returned to Double-A Portland after a cameo appearance with the Red Sox last month, when he made two appearances against the Houston Astros. He was lifted in the second one after walking the only two batters he faced.

On Wednesday night, Bard walked five batters, threw two wild pitches and threw strikes on just 8 of 30 pitches. He has made five appearances since his return to Portland, walking 13 batters in 3 2/3 innings.

Obviously, the Sox are worried, although not yet to the point that they are considering shutting him down or perhaps sending him to extended spring training in Fort Myers. For now, manager John Farrell said, he will continue working with Bob Kipper, the Portland pitching coach who was with him back in 2007, when Bard was able to make a drastic correction to the wildness problems that plagued him in his first year in professional baseball, when he averaged more than a walk an inning (78 walks, 75 innings) at the Class A level.

"Given what's transpired, not just in the last couple of outings but over a period of time, there's some concern there," Farrell said. "Any time you go out and you're throwing 25 percent strikes, that's a tough way to go.

"I know this is something that Daniel's working through, he's fighting through. We're there to give him the best feedback that we can and encourage him along the way. He's going through a pretty tough stretch right now."

When asked about shutting Bard down, Farrell said the team has yet to determine what is the best way to proceed.

"To say that it's one thing and there would be a magic remedy for it, we would certainly give it to him," Farrell said. "Yet it comes from repeating a delivery and what allows that to happen. That's being in a good place mentally and confident that you're going to execute a pitch in a given situation, and that's been elusive for him right now.

"We haven't gotten to the point [of pursuing other action] yet. Each outing is discussed internally but it's more about continuing to address the needs of Daniel and trying to provide him that help as best we can. We haven't gotten to the point of any drastic measures one way or the other."

Bard is meeting with Sox mental skills coach Bob Tewksbury, who coincidentally was one of the best control artists in the game when he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Farrell noted that in spring training, Bard strung together several consecutive outings that gave him a "legitimate shot to make this club." There has been obvious regression since then, which Farrell contended can't be blamed on his demotion following his April stint with Boston.

"We've got to get to the point of Daniel being very candid and honest with himself, and not be deflecting some of the things that he might be feeling," Farrell said. "Just be as bluntly honest as we can.

"This is something that you can't run from. We haven't gotten to that point of just taking the ball out of his hand. I don't think we're of the mindset that things are going to just turn for the sake of turning. You're looking to do something, you're looking to be proactive, address something with getting involved in a situation like this, and we continue to do so. I'm sure no one is more frustrated than Daniel is."

Blass was 30 years old and coming off one of the best seasons of his career in 1972, when he went 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA for the Pirates, walking just 84 batters in 249 2/3 innings. He also beat the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series that season.

The following year, 1973, Blass went 3-9 with a 9.85 ERA and walked the same number of batters (84) in 88 2/3 innings that he had the year before. He also hit a league-leading dozen batters.

He pitched just five innings for the Pirates in 1974 before ending his career.

Bard is only two seasons removed from being one of the best setup men in the game. The Red Sox abandoned their experiment to convert him to a starter after he walked six batters in 1 2/3 innings against Toronto, shocking him with a demotion to Triple-A Pawtucket. He fared worse for the PawSox, posting a 7.03 ERA while walking 29 batters in 32 innings, before a late-season call-up to the Red Sox.

He pitched in six games, all lost by Boston, giving up nine runs on eight hits (three home runs) and six walks in 4 1/3 innings.

A more recent example of a major leaguer who experienced a baffling loss of control was Rick Ankiel, who as a 20-year-old left-hander for the St. Louis Cardinals suffered his lapse during the NL playoffs, walking 11 batters in four innings. He made just six more starts for the Cards in 2001, missed the 2003 season after Tommy John surgery, briefly returned as a reliever in 2004, then converted full time to the outfield in 2005.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Red Sox reliever Andrew Bailey, who had just been named the team's closer over Joel Hanrahan when he went on the disabled list with a strained right biceps, is on track to be activated Monday in Chicago, manager John Farrell said Thursday.

With Hanrahan facing season-ending surgery for a torn flexor muscle in his right elbow, Bailey will slide back into the closer's role on Monday, Farrell said. Bailey threw a simulated game here Thursday and is scheduled to make a rehab assignment Saturday for Pawtucket. Assuming that goes well, he'll rejoin the team after being on the disabled list since May 6, retroactive to April 29.

Bailey last pitched on April 28, when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit, against the Houston Astros. Before being hurt, Bailey had run off five saves in five chances, striking out 11 in six innings and holding opponents to a .100 batting average (2-for-20).

"I watched him out here today," Farrell said. "He threw the ball very well, not only with power with his fastball but action with his secondary stuff."

Junichi Tazawa has served as closer in the absence of both Hanrahan and Bailey. Tazawa has not had any save opportunities, but he entered the ninth inning of a tie game against Toronto last Saturday and gave up what proved to be a game-winning home run by Adam Lind. He has not pitched since.

ESPN's Nomar Garciaparra and Sean McDonough broke down how the Red Sox were able to end the Rays' six-game winning streak.

The anticipated pitching duel of top left-handers between Sox ace Jon Lester and Tampa Bay's David Price never materialized. Lester improved to 6-0, but Price struggled before leaving in the third inning with a strained left triceps.

"[Lester] was out there pounding that strike zone, and that's always good to see," Garciaparra said, adding that Lester has been great at stopping Boston losing streaks, "winning four games after a Red Sox loss. That's what you want out of your ace."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- So, what future accusations lie in wait for Jon Lester? After spitballs for Clay Buchholz and steroids for David Ortiz, surely there is some manner of chicanery to which we can link the Red Sox left-hander, now 6-0 after breezing to a 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays here Wednesday night.

Eavesdropping on the Associated Press? Profiling tax returns for the IRS? Spying in Russia for the CIA? The possibilities are endless for Lester, who just wants you to believe that all he does is come to the ballpark and put up W's. You know what they say: The quiet ones are the ones usually up to the most mischief.

Are we really supposed to take on face value that nine starts into the 2013 season, Lester's status as one of the best left-handers in the American League has been restored, simply by virtue of his ability to execute pitches, an explanation he inherited from Josh Beckett during the prickly right-hander's tenure in Boston?

"He went out and pitched," manager John Farrell said after Lester snapped Tampa Bay's six-game winning streak and ran his record to 4-0 with a 1.94 ERA in six starts after a Sox loss this season. "The most encouraging thing is consistency to his changeup and his curveball. They both have very good definition. It's given him four good pitches that he can spread the zone with and take different attack plans, given the hitter. A solid seven innings of work for him here."

It is no accident that Beckett's name surfaces here. With five strikeouts Wednesday, Lester has passed Beckett to rank fifth on the team's all-time strikeout list with 1,110, two more than Beckett. Earlier this season he passed El Tiante, too, and Cy Young himself is next in his sights (1,341).

"I think the biggest thing is I feel really good with my off-speed, my changeup and my curveball," Lester said. "My curveball, it's been a while since it's felt as good as it did tonight."

Lester threw 20 curveballs Wednesday night, 14 of them for strikes, according to Brooksbaseball.net.

ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, E!, Spike, The Food Channel, TruTV and most surely the Boston Globe will soon be sending investigative teams to vet Lester, who is now officially off to the best start of his career, having surpassed the 5-0 start that accompanied his big league debut in 2006, when he was called up in June.

They may want to start with his control. For the second straight start, Lester did not walk a batter, something he was unable to accomplish in any of his 31 starts in 2011. The flirtation he enjoyed with perfection in his last start, when he set down the first 17 batters in a row and finished with a one-hit, complete-game shutout, was not repeated here. Desmond Jennings, the first Tampa Bay batter of the game, lined a single.

But with the luxury of an eight-run lead, the Sox piling on in the third inning with the big blow a grand slam by Stephen Drew, Lester pitched to contact, allowing eight hits, and a couple of runs in the third. The Rays obliged, going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position against Lester and relievers Koji Uehara and Jose De La Torre.

Drew walked to lead off the third and scored, and hit a high drive into the right-field seats for the second slam of his career, the first coming off Sox teammate Ryan Dempster, when Dempster was a Cub and Drew a Diamondback on April 28, 2011. He also doubled in the sixth and is batting .348 (16-for-46) in May, with three doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs in 12 games.

"He's been swinging with much more consistency," Farrell said. "He's come up with some guys on base, he's driven in some runs. That last couple of nights, the consistency of the timing at the plate is much more there than it might have been when he first came back to us. It's good to see that kind of contribution, that kind of production, out of the bottom third of the order."

It should not go overlooked that in 29 starts at shortstop since returning from concussive symptoms, Drew has committed just one error in 108 chances, matching Elvis Andrus of Texas for fewest errors in the American League. He makes all the routine plays and the occasional outstanding one. Combine his defense with that of second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who has yet to make an error in 40 games this season, and you have the makings of a suffocating up-the-middle defense.

Hitting with runners in scoring position was supposed to be a Sox malady, but Wednesday night they were 5-for-11 in such situations, consecutive RBI hits delivered by Pedroia, David Ortiz, Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes before Drew unloaded with his grand slam off reliever Jamey Wright.

Wright relieved David Price, the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner, who left with what the team called tightness in his left triceps and is experiencing the kind of reversal of fortune that befell Lester in September 2011 and continued through last season.

Price, a 20-game winner with a 2.56 ERA last season, is now 1-4 with a 5.24 ERA in nine starts this season, with fears that a trip to the disabled list may be looming.

"I haven't ever been on the DL," said Price, who said he felt discomfort while walking Drew to start the third. "This is something I take pride in -- being available every fifth day and being out there for my team. I don't know how that's looking right now. The biggest thing is going to be how I feel tomorrow."

The Sox, losers of nine of their previous 11 until winning Wednesday night, pulled back into a second-place tie with the Orioles (both are 23-17), a quarter of the way through the season. Will Middlebrooks capped off the scoring with an opposite-field home run, his seventh, tying him with Napoli for most on the club.

Both Farrell and Middlebrooks suggested that his collision last week with catcher David Ross might have had unintended consequences, forcing the third baseman to cut down on his swing.

"I was getting kind of big," he said. "I was swinging a little hard and I didn't realize it. Just trying to do a little too much. With that bruise, it kind of slowed me down a little bit and I think it helped."