Rays Lead Red Sox 8-7 After 6 Innings in ALCS

Boston Red Sox's Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches during the first inning baseball action in Game 1 of the American League championship series against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Doug Persinger, Pool)

(AP)

Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs off Josh Beckett, helping the Tampa Bay Rays rally to take an 8-7 lead over the Boston Red Sox after six innings of Game 2 in the AL championship series.

Dustin Pedroia homered twice for Boston. He connected in the third inning and again in the fifth, when the Red sox tied an LCS single-inning record with three homers.

In all, there were seven home runs, setting an ALCS record.

Held hitless for six innings in a 2-0 loss in Game 1, the Rays came out swinging — and connecting — against a postseason ace who has struggled this October.

Longoria hit a two-run homer in the first inning. Upton launched a solo shot in the third and Cliff Floyd homered in the fourth.

Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered off Rays starter Scott Kazmir in the fifth, and Jason Bay's solo shot off reliever Grant Balfour later in the inning gave Boston a short-lived 6-5 lead.

The Rays answered with three runs in the bottom half off Beckett, who allowed eight runs and nine hits in 4 1-3 innings.

Carlos Pena's RBI single and Longoria's run-scoring double finished the Boston starter. Carl Crawford's single on reliever Javier Lopez's first pitch drove in Longoria to make it 8-6.

Upton continued his recent power surge. After hitting nine homers in 531 at-bats during the regular season, he's connected four times in 24 at-bats during the playoffs.

Bay had a two-run double in the Boston first. He had a RBI single off Chad Bradford that trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 8-7 in the sixth.

Longoria, the All-Star rookie third baseman who homered twice in his playoff debut against the Chicago White Sox, snapped an 0-for-13 drought with third homer of the postseason.

Beckett began the night 3-0 with a 2.70 in league championship series play, with one of the wins coming for Florida in the 2003 NLCS. He was 6-2 overall in postseason and had won five consecutive decisions since the Marlins lost to the Yankees in Game 3 of the 2003 World Series.