Red Sox stole one back

            Before the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, “Are we going to quit? No.” Then his team went out and performed Exhibit A. Or was it Exhibit B, if you count Monday night?

          Anyway, as Dustin Pedroia said, “We played hard. We could have won last night’s game. But they kind of stole one last night and we stole one tonight, so I guess it kind of evened out.”

         Francona said afterward, “There was a lot that happened tonight. And that’s an understatement.”

        That included starter Josh Beckett leaving with two outs in the fifth with a tight lower back. He said that his back, which caused him to miss his previous turn, stiffened when he threw a splitter to Alex Rodriguez and it just got tighter and tighter after that. He said he lost his footing on the mound, which was worked on after that half-inning.

          Francona said he told the umpires that Beckett was leaving because of an injury and the umpires said “OK.”

            “After that, I didn’t pay much attention,” the manager said, when he was asked for his reaction to the Yankees playing the game under protest because there had been no sign of Beckett being injured before he was lifted.

            Beckett knew nothing about the protest until reporters asked him about in the clubhouse. “They didn’t know I was injured?” he said. When pressed for a response, Beckett said, “I don’t really know.” He does not think the injury is serious.

           J.D. Drew left after the eighth because his left calf was bothering him. “I didn’t want to take a chance with it,” he said, adding that he probably will be able to play tonight. As it was, he was replaced by Jeremy Hermida, who got the decisive double off Mariano Rivera in the ninth.

            “It ended up being the best thing I did all night,” Francona said of the substitution.

            Possibly the real highlight of the night for Boston was the play Jonathan Papelbon made on Juan Miranda’s hot hopper with one out and runners on first and third in the ninth. Papelbon was animated as he looked to third, looked to second and threw to first.

            Francona described it this way, “Pap fielding that ball like John Belushi, jumping around.” Probably referring to a scene from “Animal House.” Pedroia said, “I was afraid he was going to throw it to the backstop. I was a little nervous.”

           Papelbon threw to the correct base, then retired Randy Winn to end a game that gave the Red Sox a breather and some new life.