by Steve Carney

Boston pitching took a perfect game into the ninth inning, and Jonny Gomes drove in four of the Red Sox five runs, as they swept a home-and-home series with the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5-1 victory in Sunday's second half in Fort Myers.

Starter Jon Lester had no trouble at all, retiring all 18 batters he faced in his six innings of work, striking out six.  Anthony Carter and Joel Hanrahan each had a perfect inning of relief as well.

The Red Sox got to Alex Cobb in the second inning, as Will Middlebrooks lifted a two-out double for the first hit of the game, and Gomes followed with a sharp single to score him for a 1-0 lead.

The game remained 1-0 until the fourth, when Jason Bourgeois couldn't cleanly catch a Middlebrooks fly ball that would have been the final out of the inning, and Gomes made him pay with a double off the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Boston got to Cobb one final time in the sixth, as Mike Napoli led off with a single, and pinch-runner Mike Carp advanced to third base on a double by Middlebrooks two batters later.  Manager Joe Maddon decided to bring in Juan Sandoval to replace Cobb, and Gomes unloaded a two-run single to close Cobb's line out and give the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.

Sandoval allowed Boston's final run in the seventh.  After Rich Thompson misplayed Jonathan Diaz's two-out single for an error, Mike Carp drew a walk and Lyle Overbay singled to bring in Diaz to make it 5-0.

Boston finally broke through with one out in the ninth, as Bourgeois beat out an infield single against Marco Duarte for Tampa Bay's first hit.   A passed ball moved him up a base and Cole Figueroa brought him hin with a ground-rule double to end the shutout.

Leslie Anderson drew a walk, but Chris Gimenez struck out to end the game.

Tampa Bay will have the day off Monday, before heading to Lakeland to take on the Detroit Tigers Tuesday.