TOKYO — It’s uncertain, even as he suddenly has turned loquacious, whether Manny Ramirez is determined to prove any sort of point this season. If he is, he’s traveled a very long distance to do so.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

Brandon Moss gets congrats from teammates after hitting a solo homer in the ninth to tie the game.

But the same hitter who has mostly sputtered through the first two months of the last two seasons wasted no time getting into gear for 2008. He smacked two two-run doubles Tuesday to help the Red Sox outlast the spunky Oakland A’s, 6-5 in 10 innings, as the Sox successfully opened defense of their world championship a half-world away.

“I’m ready to go,” said Ramirez after his second double, a two-run belt to right-center off Huston Street, gave the Sox a two-run lead in the top of the 10th. “I’m hungry — hungry to get 600 (career homers).”

Ramirez didn’t move that needle with his two doubles, but he did make the Red Sox offense go in the opener. Earlier, his first double — slashed down the left-field line, just inside the third-base bag in the sixth — had erased a 2-0 hole Daisuke Matsuzaka had dug for himself in the first inning.

If Ramirez was uncharacteristically hot in the first game, the Sox’ other offensive hero didn’t even think he would play until minutes before the first pitch. Brandon Moss was literally a last-minute substitute for J.D. Drew, who experienced some tightness in his lower back during batting practice and then couldn’t get loose in time to be cleared to go.

Instead, the Sox tapped Moss as his replacement, both in right field and in the sixth spot in the batting order.

“Straight up,” said a smiling Terry Francona, relating that he had no time to re-arrange the batting order when choosing Drew’s replacement.

Moss had given the Sox their first lead of the game when he followed Ramirez’s first double with an RBI single to right.

Then, after Kyle Snyder gave the lead back in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run homer to Jack Hannahan, Moss tied the game in the top of the ninth with a solo homer to right off Street, the first home run of his major-league career.

When the Sox return to the U.S. and have to get down to 25 players on the roster, Moss will almost certainly be optioned back to Pawtucket. But Tuesday was, quite unexpectedly, his day to shine. “They told me right before (game time that I was in the lineup),” recounted Moss. “I didn’t have much time to feel anything. I was kind of shocked.”

Moss conferred with hitting coach Dave Magadan and teammate Sean Casey, trying to find what to expect from Oakland starter Joe Blanton. Casey told Moss that Blanton had a habit of throwing changeups to left-handed hitters, and in the sixth Moss pounced on one, driving it to right.

In the ninth, Street had fooled Moss badly with a changeup of his own. But when he tried to throw him another on 2-and-2, Moss drove it into the seats in right, bringing the Sox even.

“It feels great on a personal level, because we won,” said Moss. “But if they have their mind made up (about having him start the season in Pawtucket), I don’t think one game is going to change it.”

Still, there was no denying his euphoria, however temporary. “I think any kid who’s ever touched a baseball dreams of a day like this,” he said.

Ramirez, of course, has had many days like this. But not many have come in April in recent seasons. Last year, it took him 10 games to accumulate the four RBI had collected Tuesday in two at-bats. The year before, it wasn’t until the 14th game of the season that he had amassed four RBI.

No one associated with the Red Sox has an explanation for why Ramirez has begun slowly the last two seasons.

“But once he gets locked in,” said Francona earlier this week, “he’s ready to go.”

His slow starts weren’t on his mind in the 10th inning Tuesday. As the inning unfolded with a leadoff infield hit by Julio Lugo, a sacrifice from Dustin Pedroia and a two-out intentional walk to David Ortiz, Ramirez told Alex Cora that he was hoping to face Street.

Why so eager to hit against one of the league’s better closers?

“He’s nasty,” said Ramirez with an almost sheepish grin. “I like those challenges.”

Even after Ramirez rose to the occasion, the Sox had a scare in the bottom of the 10th.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon seemed out of sync almost from the beginning, walking leadoff man Daric Barton. After fanning Jack Cust, Papelbon yielded a run-scoring double to Emil Brown.

But here, too, Moss factored in. He made a strong throw to Pedroia, the cutoff man, and the Sox caught Brown making too wide a turn around second, nailing him in a rundown between second and third.

Two more singles followed, putting the tying run in scoring position and the winning run at first, before Papelbon got Kurt Suzuki to ground out to end it.

“I feel like I’m obviously better than I showed today,” said Papelbon. “But I made some pitches when I had to. It’s still early for me. I had to keep battling.”

smcadam@projo.com