Six different Sox players mashed home runs -- the most four-baggers clobbered by an Red Sox team dating back to an Aug. 3, 2003 beat-down of the Baltimore Orioles -- and Boston's pitching staff managed to hold onto the gargantuan lead afforded them by the thunderous lumber.

While the Red Stockings taking a win at the House that Ryan Rupe Built certainly isn't nearly as important as the statement games won by the Rays at Fenway Park last week, there was still some degree of pride associated with pulling into a tie with the first place Rays on their own artificial turf.

"It was very important," said Sox Mike Timlin. "(The Rays) have been playing very well here all year long, and we come down here and we haven't played well here at all. We came out swinging the bats well. A lot of base hits and a lot of home runs, and it was an amazing offensive game for us out there."

The Sox had spent the prior 53 days looking up at the young and improving Rays in the AL East standings, but that all changed when the Sox snapped a seven game losing streak at Tropicana Field on Monday night. The old adage goes that momentum in baseball only goes as far the next day's starting pitcher, but the Rays are 4-9 since the calendar turned to September. The Sox, on the other hand, are 12-4 and playing some of the best baseball of the season as the regular season winds to a close.

"We did a good job of keeping the intensity up," said Mike Lowell. "These are all important games from here on out."

With the other AL Wild Card entrants fading deeper into the standings with each passing day, the AL East could be won or lost over the next two games as two teams -- one grizzled and accomplished and the other hungry and energized -- stare each other down under the C-Ring at Tropicana Field.

RED SOX 13, RAYS 5: David Ortiz smashed a three-run homer in the top of the first inning that set the powerful tone for the evening, and his socking Sox teammates lashed five more home runs in the blowout win. Daisuke Matsuzaka threw five innings of one-run ball to improve his sterling record to 17-2 on the season, and the win moved the Sox into a share of first place in the AL East.