BOSTON -- A long night at Fenway turned out to be well worth it for the Red Sox.

The Sox, led by their young hitters, broke out of their offensive slump and beat Tampa Bay, 7-3. The game ended at 12:48 a.m. Saturday morning after beginning two hours and 27 late because of a persistent rain.

Boston’s young players, most notably Brandon Moss, didn't mind staying up so late.

Moss started a five-run Sox fourth inning with a drive into the bleachers in center for his second home run, added a hit and scored a run with a nice slide on a close play in the eighth, and threw a runner out from right to keep the game scoreless in the second.

Dustin Pedroia added three hits, scored once and drove in three, and Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and two walks, scored one and drove in one as the Sox had 13 hits and a total of 18 base runners.

Another of the kids, Clay Buchholz, got the victory. He struggled a bit with his control (four walks), but allowed only one run in 5 1/3 innings. Even with a four-run lead, Jonathan Papelbon closed it out after Javy Lopez, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima protected the lead.

"We needed it,'' Terry Francona said of the victory over a team that had swept the Sox in Florida last weekend.

Tampa is the young team on the rise, but it was Boston’s recent Pawtucket graduates who were the stars. Moss was the biggest on offense.

"I think you can tell we have no qualms about playing him. He does a good job,'' Francona said of Moss, who started in right with J.D. Drew still out because of a quad problem.

Moss was asked what part of it he most enjoyed.

"The home run,'' he responded. "But it always feels good to play good defense and help the team out.’’

His defense kept the game scoreless in the second inning. Gabe Gross was on second when Jason Bartlett lined a single to right.

"I was playing Bartlett in a bit. It got to me on one hop,'' Moss noted. "When I got it [Gross] was rounding third, so I had time to set my feet. As soon as I let it go I knew it was a good throw. I was just hoping he didn’t beat it.’’

The Sox took the lead with a run in the third when Julio Lugo doubled and Pedroia doubled him home.

The offense really got going in the fourth and it was Moss who sparked it. With two outs and no one on -- Boston already was leading 1-0 thanks to a two-out RBI double by Pedroia in the third -- he crushed a 2-and-0 pitch from Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson to the bleachers in dead center.

"There were [other] balls hit to center that didn’t go anywhere,'' Francona said. "He was all over that ball.'' The shot landed on top of the canvas that protects the camera in center.

That opened the floodgates. Jason Varitek singled, Lugo walked and Ellsbury singled to center, scoring Varitek and sending Lugo to third. With Pedroia at the plate, Ellsbury took off and easily stole second, his ninth of the year and 18th straight in his career -- he has never been thrown out.

Both runners came home when Pedroia singled to left. Pedroia took second on the throw home and scored on a single by David Ortiz, making it 6-0. The five third-inning runs were more than the Sox had scored in their last five games combined.

Tampa Bay got as close as 6-3, but the Sox put it away in the bottom of the eighth when Moss singled and came all the way around on a drive off the top of the wall in left-center by Varitek.

Buchholz did the rest.

"I thought his stuff was phenomenal," Francona said. "His command at times got him into a couple jams but he had the stuff to pitch out of it.''

While he was happy with the victory, Buchholz feels he has to improve his control.

"I hate walking people,'' said Buchholz, who walked the first two hitters in the second before Moss made his big defensive play. "That usually kills you . . .

"It comes down to making them swing and make contact instead of being too fine with my pitches."

He is a young player getting better, as are Moss and Ellsbury and Pedroia, the others who helped the Sox move back into sole possession of first place.