Jason Varitek came out of the bullpen to pinch-hit for Kevin Cash in the 9th inning and the move paid off as Tek hit a home run to help the Boston Red Sox get past the Cleveland Indians 5-3 at a half-empty Progressive Field on Tuesday night. The win for the Red Sox was their fourth in a row and their record now stands at 9-6 on the young season.

Jed Lowrie, who had 3 RBIs in his MLB debut, led off the 9th inning with a strikeout by Jensen Lewis. Varitek, fresh off a nice jog in from the bullpen the inning before, took a Lewis offering the other way for a pinch-hit home run to put the Red Sox up 4-3. Coco Crisp followed that with a single and he went to third on a Dustin Pedroia double. Lewis then jammed David Ortiz and got him to pop up to second. Rather than pitch to Manny Ramirez (Joe Girardi take note), the Indians decided to intentionally walk him. The move didn’t work as Kevin Youkilis delivered a single to score Crisp. Pedroia was gunned out at home plate for the final out of the inning.

With Jonathan Papelbon not available for tonight’s game, Hideki Okajima came out to close the door on the Indians. And he did just that as he struck out Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. He got Jhonny Peralta to fly out to Jacoby Ellsbury, who took the ball away from the fan to make a great catch, for the final out and his first save of the season.

Tim Wakefield started the game for the Red Sox and struggled a little bit on the night but a good effort nonetheless. He went 6 innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks while striking out 4. Javier Lopez worked 2/3 of an inning, giving up 1 hit and 1 run. Manny Delcarmen had some control issues as he walked 2 in an inning of work. The run charged to Lopez came in when Delcarmen plunked Ryan Garko with the bases loaded. David Aardsma picked up the vulture win for the Red Sox working just a 1/3 of an inning.

Lowrie was 1-for-4 in his MLB debut with the 3 RBIs while striking out twice. Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia both had 3 hits for the Sox while Youk had 2 hits and an RBI.

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the 5th inning off of Indians starter Paul Byrd who kept the Sox hitters at bay with 6 strikeouts. Youk flew out to center to start the inning. Ellsbury followed him with a single and went to second on a throwing error by Franklin Gutierrez. Lugo singled moving Ellsbury to third. Ellsbury would score when Lowrie grounded into a fielder’s choice as he beat out the double play relay throw at first. Cash struck out to end the inning.

Cleveland wasted no time in getting the lead back. Casey Blake led off the bottom of the 5th with a single and then Wake walked Sizemore. The first out of the inning came when David Dellucci flew out to center on a ball deep enough to move Blake up to third. With Pronk at the plate, Sizemore stole second. Pronk worked a walk and loaded the bases for Martinez, who brought in two runs with a single, putting the Indians on top 2-1. Wake then got Peralta to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to kill the Indians rally.

Jorge Julio came out in the 7th to replace Byrd who had only thrown 78 pitches. Julio was a little wild as he walked Youk and Ellsbury. The Indians then brought in Rafael Perez to face Lugo. He laid down a bunt that was fumbled by Perez to load up the bases for Lowrie. He got his first MLB hit when his 2-run single got past the diving glove of Peralta with Youk and Ellsbury scoring. Cash grounded out for the first out and Perez rebounded to strike out Crisp and Pedroia to get out of the inning.

Lopez took over for Wake in the 7th inning and got the first two outs of the inning, Sizemore on a ground out and pinch-hitter Jason Michaels on a strikeout. Lopez then plunked Pronk and gave up a single to Martinez. Delcarmen came in and walked Peralta and then nailed Garko in the hand with a pitch forcing in the tying run. Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a fielder’s choice for the final out.

The win for the Red Sox coupled with a loss by the Orioles moved them into first place by a ½ game. The Red Sox head to the Bronx for a two-game matchup against the New York Yankees. Clay Buchholz and Chien-Mien Wang will be on the hill tomorrow night.

Notes and musings:

Boxscore

Amalie Benjamin reported on the pregame show that Alex Cora could be out for another week and possibly head to the disabled list.

Monday was the Red Sox’ 4th come-from-behind victory of the year and the 2nd when trailing after 8 innings.

The Red Sox are tied for the A.L. lead with the Angels and White Sox at 10 road homers.

Ramirez has 814 RBI with the Red Sox after producing 804 with Cleveland. He is the only player in major league history with at least 800 RBI for 2 different franchises. Jimmie Foxx (A’s and Red Sox) and Rafael Palmeiro (Rangers and Orioles) are the only 2 players with 700+ RBI for 2 franchises (Source: Elias Sports Bureau).

Three Red Sox, Coco Crisp, David Ortiz, and coach DeMarlo Hale, are joining others around baseball in wearing Robinson’s #42 for Tuesday’s game. It is the 2nd straight year that the trio has paid tribute to Robinson in that fashion. The Sox will honor Robinson on April 23rd since they are on the road.

Jonathan Papelbon has retired his last 8 batters faced and has converted all 5 save opportunities in 2008. Of his last 16 outs recorded, 13 have come on strikeouts.

The Red Sox are now 4-0 on the road in the United States.

With the Bruins taking on the Canadiens Thursday night in Game 5 of their NHL playoff tilt, the Boston Red Sox will once again be relegated to the NESN Plus channel, which means no game in HD. Click here to find the NESN Plus channel on your cable or satellite provider. NESN will have the pre-game show at 5:30 PM.