Coco Crisp rolls on the turf after making a diving catch of a fly ball by the A’s Todd Walker during the seventh inning of last night’s game at Fenway Park.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — It was one of those nights for Red Sox flamethrower Jonathan Papelbon.

He gave up his first runs of the year. He blew his first save, and it took him only five pitches to squander Boston’s 4-2 lead in the ninth.

A single by Bobby Crosby and a two-run homer to right by rookie Travis Buck, who entered the game batting .190, transformed what had seemed to be a certain victory into a tie game.

The pitches and the baserunners kept adding up. A one-out-single by rookie Danny Putnam and a walk had two on and one out and left-hander J.C. Romero was warming in the bullpen.

Papelbon, clearly upset with himself, didn’t self-destruct. He fell behind Mark Ellis at 3-and-1, but retired him on a foul pop behind the plate on his 29th pitch, a 92-mph fastball.

The next hitter was Eric Chavez, a left-handed batter. Romero was ready in the bullpen.

Manager Terry Francona could have gone to Romero, but stuck with his best, Papelbon. And Papelbon kept the game tied by retiring Chavez on a fielder’s choice grounder to short on his 35th pitch.

The pitch count was extremely high, especially for a pitcher who suffered a shoulder injury a year ago. So don’t expect to see him pitching tonight, and tomorrow might be a stretch, too.

This is still a new role for Papelbon. This is only his second year as a closer in the big leagues. There will be some valleys to go along with the many peaks.

How he handles the valleys will determine if he thrives in the role or not.

He kept his composure enough to keep the game tied, at least.

No one’s perfect. Not even Jonathan Papelbon.

There when needed

Curt Schilling can’t throw 96 mph anymore. Nor does he have to in order to be successful.

Now, he picks his spots to reach back and find something extra.

Over the first two innings, Schilling’s fastball was generally 88 or 89 mph.

But with runners at first and second, two outs and a 3-and-2 count on Jason Kendall, Schilling reached back for a little extra zip, firing a 92-mph fastball past the Oakland catcher for an inning-ending swinging third strike.

Schilling dialed it up to 91 in blowing away Ryan Langerhans on a high 0-and-2 pitch for the first out of the third.

In the fifth, Schilling threw fastballs of 91, 93 and then 92 to help him get out of a jam. His 101st and final pitch of the night was a 90-mph fastball that jammed Mark Ellis for an inning-ending popup to first in the seventh.

Off on the wrong foot

Oakland starter Joe Blanton threw 30 pitches in the first inning, and gave up three runs.

And he had to be talking to himself by the time he got to the bench because it wasn’t as if he was cuffed around.

Coco Crisp reached on a one-out infield single when shortstop Bobby Crosby backed up on his high bouncer. David Ortiz reached when left fielder Shannon Stewart got a terrible jump on his blooper and had the ball tip off his glove in a diving attempt at a catch.

Kevin Youkilis had a single because second baseman Mark Ellis was three inches too short to catch his liner. And Youkilis outfoxed Crosby and six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez after Crosby smothered Mike Lowell’s grounder up the middle.

Youkilis, running from second, was trapped off third, thinking the ball would go through. He faked a dash back to third, and then raced home. Crosby and Chavez bit on the fake. Crosby threw to Chavez who went to put a tag down, discovering, to his embarrassment, that Youkilis was heading home, and it was too late to make a throw.

Blanton shook off the tough inning. He allowed only one run on one hit over his final six innings.

Worth a shot

The thought had been planted in Crisp’s brain by a reporter after a game in Toronto.

At one point in the game, Crisp had been on first base with Ortiz at the plate. The Jays had a shift on, with only one infielder on the left side, and he was close to the bag, ready to take any throw for a forceout or a stolen base.

Crisp was asked why he wouldn’t try to steal not only second, but third base as well in such a situation, because if he were able to swing around the second-base bag safely, there wouldn’t be anyone covering third.

Crisp thought about, and tried to run a scenario or two through his mind in which it would work, concluding it would be difficult, but “cool.”

Last night, batting second, Crisp was on first base with one out and Ortiz up. The Athletics had the shift on, with Chavez the only infielder on the left side.

Crisp took off on a stolen-base attempt. He had a great jump and easily beat the throw from Kendall to Chavez at second. After popping up from his slide, Crisp was aware that third base was unoccupied.

Crisp hesitated as Chavez moved away from the bag, and then started to take off for third, hoping Chavez had fallen asleep. But Chavez, who was a few steps toward third by then, woke up in time, so Crisp retreated safely to second.

Differences of opinion

Very rarely does Ortiz agree with a plate umpire when he calls a strike on the Sox’ designated hitter.

He has toned down his visible displays of displeasure for the most part. But last night, Ortiz couldn’t let a strike-three call by Charlie Reliford pass by without a demonstrative complaint, risking ejection.

Ortiz complained on Blanton’s 1-and-1 pitch in the third, which Reliford called a strike.

The next pitch seemed a bit lower and a bit outside, but Reliford punched out Ortiz, and as soon as Ortiz turned back to express his disagreement, Reliford had his mask off and barked back at Ortiz.

Fortunately for the Sox, the argument didn’t escalate and Francona finally got to the plate to make sure Ortiz didn’t get tossed.

The Athletics weren’t so fortunate with Reliford.

Chavez was called out on strikes with runners at second and third and two outs in fifth, ruling Chavez hadn’t checked his swing in time. Chavez complained loudly, imploring Reliford to check with third-base umpire Tom Hallion to see if he had gone around.

Oakland manager Bob Geren and coach Rene Lachemann raced out to make sure Chavez didn’t get thumbed. Chavez stayed in the game, but Geren got thrown out.

skrasner@projo.com