BOSTON — Down 6-0 to the Yankees, the Red Sox were about to go to their bullpen and bring in Hunter Jones, a rookie who has all of one major-league inning to his name.

Then with one swing, Jason Varitek made this a game again. His grand slam to right brought the Sox back, making what was by then a 6-1 blowout a 6-5 contest. He didn’t want to sing his own praises, but his teammates knew exactly what he did.

"Tek gets that one huge hit, and all of a sudden we’re right back in that game again," said Jason Bay, one of three runners who scored ahead of Varitek. "That put us into basically a regular game from that point on, regardless of what happened to that point.

Boston’s starting pitcher, Josh Beckett, knew just how tough a night Varitek really had — dealing with Beckett’s difficulties on the mound. To get the most important hit of the game on top of that? Superhuman.

"It was huge. I give a lot of credit to Tek for battling with me. He has to battle with me for four [horrible] innings and then go up there and hit a grand slam, so it was big."

dbarbari@projo.com