The Red Sox's lineup looked a little bit sluggish after having no luck crossing the plate on Monday against Dan Haren. But that hangover disappeared quickly once the eighth inning began on Tuesday.
Jason Varitek singled to right field to drive in Mike Lowell from second base as the Red Sox climbed out of a three-run deficit with a four-run eighth to steal a 5-4 decision from the D-backs at Fenway Park.

Varitek's timely RBI single was just his second hit in the past eight games. He recorded his first hit since June 11 against Baltimore on Monday, and followed it up with his first RBI on Tuesday since that June 11 contest.

 
"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit," Varitek said. "He left a slider up and I was able to get the good part of the bat on it."

In typical Varitek fashion, the Red Sox's captain quietly busted out of a personal hitting slump in perhaps the most important at-bat of the game. All the while, though, teammates lauded Varitek's ability to keep his focus handling the pitching staff while the bat wasn't producing quite like he'd like it to.

"Tek's been a bit unlucky," Lowell said. "He's lined out, had balls hit off pitchers and carom over. ... He's a grinder, he never lets something like that might not be going right at the plate affect how he's calling a game, so he's very important to us."

One of those "unlucky" at-bats came in the first inning for Varitek, who came to the plate after Boston pushed one run across on Dustin Pedroia's home run and was threatening to add more to the early lead.

With Lowell and Manny Ramirez on with two outs, Varitek lined an apparent single up the middle that hit starter Doug Davis. The ball bounced over to shortstop Stephen Drew, ensuring that the potential RBI single turned into an inning-ending third out.

"You just can't control it," Varitek said. "I hit a ball off the guy's leg in the first inning and I get out. If it doesn't hit him, that's up the middle easy. I've had some feeble at-bats over the last few weeks, and I've had some really good ones.

"Sometimes you need a little favor once in a while."
 
"[Jason Varitek's] been a bit unlucky. He's lined out, had balls hit off pitchers and carom over. ... He's a grinder, he never lets something like that might not be going right at the plate affect how he's calling a game, so he's very important to us." 
-- Mike Lowell 

The four-run eighth was exactly what Boston needed after having no answer for Doug Davis through the first seven innings. After escaping the first with just the lone run on the board, Davis allowed just two hits over the next six frames.

He threw strikes and got ahead of hitters along the way, ensuring Red Sox batters needed to protect the plate instead of having the luxury of free-swinging aggressiveness.

Though his fastball topped out in the mid-80s, Davis' pitch selection kept Sox batters guessing while he pounded the strike zone.

"He can cut his fastball, throw a slow curveball; he uses the whole plate," manager Terry Francona said. "It was a lot of different type pitching than [Haren on Monday] night, but he was carving us up pretty good."

Meanwhile, Sox starter Justin Masterson ran into trouble in the third. With the game tied at 1, Masterson allowed a single to Orlando Hudson and a walk to Conor Jackson. Up stepped Chad Tracy to the plate, knocking a 0-1 pitch out of the park for a 4-1 D-backs lead.

Masterson salvaged the remainder of his six innings without any further damage, but he'd leave the contest in position to take the loss.

Recent Triple-A Pawtucket callup Chris Smith stepped in from there, pitching the seventh and eighth and not allowing a hit. He maintained the three-run deficit, earning praise from his manager for keeping the team in the game in just his second big league appearance.

"We're down and if [they] get more, we're in trouble," Francona said. "He gives us two solid innings and gives us a chance where if we get some offense we actually have a chance to win."

In the end, that's exactly how the game played out. Smith earned his first Major League victory, one that didn't exactly sink in right away after the contest.

"It's an exciting step," Smith said. "I can't even tell you how happy I am or excited. Middle-relief guys or guys in the bullpen don't come across too many wins, so when you get them, you put them in your back pocket and collect them."

Closer Jonathan Papelbon closed out the ninth for his 22nd save, which also made Smith a bit less nervous sitting in the dugout.

"It was easier watching him than telling me I might have to go out there," Smith joked. "So when they called on him, I was like, 'Cool, he can take the reins.'"

Boston's win drew the team even with Arizona in the three-game series, setting up a rubber match on Wednesday. It also brought the Sox to 2-3 on the homestand, allowing them to potentially salvage a .500 stint at home after being two innings away from becoming 1-4 at home in their past five games.

Varitek and his teammates' timely hitting took care of that.

"We had a lot of good at-bats," Lowell said. "We just came through, kept grinding together."