Red Sox are hardly in clear

BOSTON – Bleary eyed and beaten, the Boston Red Sox returned home after an emotionally and physically draining 9-8 late-night loss against Tampa Bay to a brilliant autumn Sunday, the weather clear and crisp, the leaves all over New England bursting out in color.

Inside Fenway Park, the scene was not as soothing, the Red Sox coming out of an 11-inning, 5-hour 27-minute marathon looking far worse for the wear, whether they would admit it or not.

The best-of-seven American League Championship Series is tied, 1-1, and Boston’s best pitcher, left-hander Jon Lester, will start Game 3 today against Rays right-hander Matt Garza.

That’s the good news in Red Sox Nation. Lester, 24, did not allow an earned run or a leadoff batter to reach base in 14 division series innings against the Angels, and he is 4-0 with a 3.38 earned run average in seven career starts against Tampa Bay.

But the big picture looks murky for the defending World Series champions. After Lester, the Red Sox will throw Tim Wakefield, the always game but rarely predictable knuckleball specialist, in Game 4, and the effective but often erratic Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 5.

And if the series goes to Game 6, Boston will turn again to Josh Beckett, the 2007 postseason ace who seems to be in denial about a rib-cage strain that is clearly bothering the veteran right-hander.

Beckett, who won all four of his postseason starts last season and entered this October with a 6-2 record and 1.73 ERA in 10 career post-season games, was rocked for eight runs and nine hits, including three home runs, in 4 1/3 innings Saturday night.

He has allowed 12 earned runs and 18 hits in 9 1/3 playoff innings against the Angels and Rays.

“I feel fine,” Beckett insisted before Sunday’s optional workout. “Do you guys know something I don’t know?”

No, but reporters suspect Beckett is hurt and won’t admit it, which wouldn’t be a news flash. Few pitchers, especially this time of year, acknowledge aches and pains because they don’t want to use injuries as an excuse or look weak in the eyes of teammates.

But many felt Red Sox Manager Terry Francona, out of loyalty or trust, stuck with Beckett too long, and the Red Sox paid for it – three times, Beckett lost leads.

“I thought he was inconsistent, especially out of the stretch,” Francona said. “In the windup there was a little more finish to his fastball, but out of the stretch, he’s fighting some inconsistencies on what pitches he can throw in a key spot and not get hurt.

“You could see him thinking it through and kind of grinding through it a little bit… . But he feels pretty good physically.”

Beckett’s fastball, normally in the 95-mph range, has dipped to 92 mph, and his breaking ball hasn’t looked as sharp.

Asked if he had his full arsenal of pitches Saturday night, Beckett said, “I don’t think you can say you have your full arsenal when you give up eight runs.”

But Beckett insisted it was pitch selection and execution – not his rib cage – that hurt him.

“It’s really frustrating for the team to score eight runs and to not hold any of the three leads they gave me,” Beckett said. “I left too many balls over the plate. The home runs weren’t good pitches.”

The Red Sox hit four homers in the game, two by second baseman Dustin Pedroia, the teams setting an ALCS record with a combined seven homers.

But a game that featured seven homers, 14 pitchers, 17 runs, 24 hits, 19 strikeouts, 14 walks and 433 pitches was decided by a fly ball that traveled about 200 feet.

Boston reliever Mike Timlin walked Dioner Navarro, who was replaced by pinch-runner Fernando Perez, and Ben Zobrist to open the 11th. With both running on a 1-and-2 pitch, Jason Bartlett grounded out to third, the runners advancing.

Had the runners not taken off, Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis, after fielding Bartlett’s grounder, could have stepped on third for the force out.

“They had the green light the whole time, based on the pitcher and his time to the plate,” Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. “It was actually spur of the moment on Fernando’s part. It looked very bright, but it was something that was set up earlier, and obviously, it was a big moment in the game.”

Akinori Iwamura was walked intentionally to load the bases, and B.J. Upton lifted a fly to shallow right that scored the speedy Perez, giving the Rays their 12th walk-off win of the season and preventing the Red Sox from taking a 2-0 series lead.

“It was long, but I’m sure it was a whole heck of a lot longer for the Red Sox,” Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. “It’s such an emotional letdown after 5 1/2 hours of battling to come out on the losing end of a game like that… . It gives us a boost. We did not want to come here down 0-2 in the series.”

 mike.digiovanna@latimes.com