ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Games like this shouldn't get away.

When you have a four-run lead in the seventh inning after getting -- cross your fingers -- six outstanding innings from a number-five starter, the game should be in the victory column.

The bullpen for a contending team should be able to rack up the final nine outs against a team with the second-worst record in the American League -- without letting a four-run lead slip away.

But yesterday, the Boston Red Sox' bullpen let Jason Johnson down, turning his promising afternoon into a no-relief meltdown that dissolved into a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

Manager Terry Francona called in a quartet of relievers. Each one was scored upon. And while much maligned Julian Tavarez served up the one-out, 2-and-0 opposite-field walkoff homer to Greg Norton, he was by no means the only member of the bullpen culpable for the setback.

Manny Delcarmen entered in the seventh. He was lifted after giving up two runs. Mike Timlin was next. He cleaned up Delcarmen's mess, but was tagged for a solo homer in the eighth by one of the majors' most lightly regarded cleanup hitters, Travis Lee.

Goodbye, Timlin. On came wunderkind Jonathan Papelbon, he of the 30 saves (in 33 chances) and the microscopic 0.49 earned-run average. He was taken deep on a rising, 95 mph, 0-and-2 outer-half heater by rookie catcher Dioner Navarro, whose second homer of the year tied the game at 6-6.

Papelbon held it tied through the ninth, but after Manny Ramirez flied to shallow right with two on and two outs in the top of the 10th, Norton brought the game to a rousing close for the segment of Devil Rays fans in the decidedly pro-Sox crowd of 30,093.

So the Sox dropped two of three in the series, falling to 3-7 at the Trop this year. Worse, when the game that had seemed to be in the bag in the seventh turned into a loss, it knocked Boston two games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East, three games in the loss column.

It is the furthest the Sox have been out of first place all season, something for them to contemplate as they try to enjoy the day off today in preparation for a three-game set in Kansas City against the Royals, who have the league's worst record.

"That game got away from us," sighed Mark Loretta. "It was one of those days, a tough one."

"We didn't finish the game," said Francona. "We had a four-run lead and felt we had the game where we wanted it. It didn't work out. That's why you don't celebrate (early)."

"It's frustrating," said third baseman Mike Lowell, who missed his third game because of a bruised foot. "We had a chance to win that game. But we've pulled out some games that maybe we had no business winning (three last-at-bat wins the previous week), so there will be games that you feel got stolen from you."

The key hit off Delcarmen was a two-out, two-run double slashed into right-center by rookie shortstop Ben Zobrist, who earlier in the game had lofted his first big-league homer, off Johnson.

"It was a 3-and-2 fastball and I wanted to go away with it, but I left it out over the plate and he put a good swing on it," said Delcarmen, adding he didn't have any issues with his right thumb, which had been troubling him recently.

Timlin was next, and the gopher ball he surrendered continued a disturbing trend for the 40-year-old, who had spent time on the disabled list earlier this year because of shoulder troubles.

Lee's homer was the fourth one off Timlin in his last 5 2/3 innings, totaling six outings. He had given up only one homer in his first 35 1/3 innings.

"That kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it," said Timlin. "I'm throwing strikes. They just seem to be hitting them right now. The only difference [now] is that I might be missing my location by a baseball size and that makes a big difference up here. I throw a lot of strikes. They know that. They're not defensive. They know I'll be around the zone. Maybe I shouldn't be around the zone so much."

Still, the Sox still had Papelbon, a flame-throwing right-hander who has been virtually invincible all season. He had given up only three earned runs in 55 innings, two of those coming on solo homers.

Papelbon fired three fastballs and fanned Norton, the first batter he faced. He tried the same thing with Navarro. Navarro fouled the first two back and then somehow got on top of another sizzler and pulled it to right for a shocking homer, knotting the game. The pitch probably wasn't even a strike.

"You get surprised, but they're all big-league hitters. I wanted to get the pitch in, but it caught more of the plate than I wanted. In hindsight, I probably should have mixed it up [with his assortment of pitches] a little better. Live and learn, that's what it's like in the big leagues," said Papelbon, whose E.R.A. jumped to 0.64 after his fourth blown save.

Loretta, standing at second base, had a hard time believing he saw what he had seen, not only someone taking Papelbon deep, but doing it on that particular pitch and particular location.

"You've got to give the hitter credit sometimes," said Loretta. "That was pretty impressive. You don't see many guys doing that to [Papelbon]."

The game still was in the balance, though, as it entered the 10th. But after Shawn Camp squirmed out of Brian Meadows' mess in the top of the inning, Norton put an end to it. As far as Tavarez was concerned, Norton's homer was another tip-your-cap moment.

"The count was 2 and 0. I wanted him to hit it to the opposite field. I wasn't going to take the chance and come inside with a pitch that he could pull down the line. The pitch was where I wanted it. He hit it pretty good," said Tavarez.

It was a terrible ending to an awful day for the bullpen.

"As Mike [Timlin] was saying, we're not machines," said Delcarmen. "We make mistakes."

And yesterday the Red Sox paid dearly for them.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340