THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PETERSBURG &ndash Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford and Pat Burrell homered in support of rookie left-hander David Price, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Wednesday night to finish a two-game series sweep.
Facing the Red Sox for the first time since getting the last four outs of last season's AL championship series, Price (5-4) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings to improve to 5-1 at home compared to 0-3 with an 8.20 ERA on the road.
Pena hit a two-run homer off Brad Penny (7-6) in the second inning. Crawford, celebrating his 28th birthday, went deep with a man on in the third. Burrell added a solo shot off Penny for a 5-2 lead in the sixth.
Jason Bartlett also homered for the Rays, belting a solo shot off Manny Delcarmen in the seventh.
Jason Bay and Victor Martinez hit solo homers off Price for Boston, which begins a critical four-game series against the AL East-leading New York Yankees on Thursday.
With the sweep, the third-place Rays continued to close on the Red Sox in the division. Three games separate the teams in the standings, and Tampa Bay leads the season series 8-4, including five of six at Tropicana Field.
J.P. Howell pitched the ninth for his 12th save. After issuing a leadoff walk, he struck out Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie and got Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out to end the game.
Since posting season highs Sunday with 18 runs and 23 hits to complete a weekend sweep at Baltimore, the Red Sox have fizzled offensively. They were limited to homers by Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia in Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Rays in 13 innings, and struggled again in key situations against Price.
Boston threatened in the third, fourth and fifth against the left-hander, but went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position - unable to cut into Tampa Bay's lead until Martinez led off the sixth with his 16th homer to trim the deficit to 4-2.
The Red Sox finished 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Lowrie grounded out to drive in an unearned run in the seventh, and Youkilis' grounder drove in Boston's final run after Pedroia walked and Martinez doubled in the eighth.
Penny, who's lost four of five decisions over his last eight starts, allowed five runs and six hits in six innings.
