St. Petersburg, FL (My Sportsbook) - Nick Green finished 3-for-5 with three RBI as Boston outslugged Tampa Bay, 10-6, in the third of four from Tropicana Field.

Kevin Youkilis also drove in three runs for the Red Sox, who had lost the first two games in the series by 13-0 and 6-2 scores. J.D. Drew added two RBI, Mike Lowell homered and Dustin Pedroia also knocked in a run.

Boston starter Tim Wakefield (3-1) was not strong in the win, allowing seven hits and five runs with five strikeouts and three walks over five-plus innings.

Carlos Pena hit his major-league leading 11th home run and knocked in a pair for the Rays, who took their third loss in the last five games. Evan Longoria and Pat Burrell also knocked in two runs apiece.

Jeff Niemann (2-3) was tagged with the loss for allowing seven hits and six runs -- five earned -- walking three and fanning three in just three frames.

"We didn't give him a lot of help, but they struck the ball pretty well against him," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "From the side, it looked like he was presenting too much at the plate."

Drew's two-run double in the first staked the Sox to an early lead, but Pena knocked in Longoria for a 2-1 game in the home half.

Boston got three more in the second, on a two-run single by Green and a Pedroia RBI single, then went up 6-1 in the third on Green's run-scoring base hit.

"Every time you get an opportunity to hit with runners in scoring position and get the job done it's rewarding," said Green. "Especially when we get the lead early in the game that's important because we can't come back from every deficit."

Pena lofted a leadoff homer just inside the right-field foul pole in the home fourth for Tampa's second run, then Longoria's two-RBI base hit and a run- scoring double from Burrell in the fifth cut the Rays' deficit to 6-5.

Youkilis extended Boston's lead to 8-5, when he laced a two-run double down the left-field line with the bases loaded in the sixth.

Lowell boosted the visitors' advantage to 9-5 with a leadoff homer in the seventh. Later in the frame, with Green on second after a double, Pedroia got a free pass and David Ortiz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Youkilis also walked to force in a run and it was a five-run Sox edge.

Hideki Okajima managed to get out of trouble with two runners on base in both the sixth and seventh to keep the Rays off the board.

Ramon Ramirez turned in a scoreless eighth for Boston, but Takashi Saito allowed Burrell's RBI single in the ninth before locking down the win by striking out Ben Zobrist.

Game Notes

Wakefield improved to 20-5 lifetime against the Rays, including a 10-3 mark at Tropicana...Despite the loss, Tampa has won four of six meetings in 2009...Jacoby Ellsbury finished with two hits and a pair of runs scored for the Red Sox...Carl Crawford added two hits and scored a run for the Rays.