The Red Sox’ David Ortiz drills a single during the fourth inning of yesterday’s game against the Devil Rays at Fenway Park.

The providence journal / MARY MURPHY

BOSTON — Sox right fielder J.D. Drew saved at least two bases, and maybe a run, with a very good defensive play in the third.

The game was tied at 1-1 when the speedy Carl Crawford ripped a one-out base hit to right, toward the line. He was thinking extra bases out of the box.

Drew hustled to the line, reached out and gloved the ball as Crawford raced around first and began heading to second. Drew, though, not only made a solid play in keeping the ball from getting past him, but he also planted his feet quickly and threw a strike toward second to the cutoff man, second baseman Alex Cora.

That throw prompted Crawford to think better of trying for second. Crawford retreated to first, forced to settle for a single. Had the ball gotten past Drew, it would have been an easy triple for Crawford, and, depending upon how it might have rolled around in the corner, there was always the chance it could have become an inside-the-park homer.

Drew said it crossed his mind that Crawford would have a triple or a homer if he didn’t grab the ball.

“I took the only angle I could to get the ball,” said Drew. “If I had taken a deeper angle, it would have been an automatic triple.”

Drew said he wasn’t sure he had gloved the ball.

“The fans’ reaction told me I had it,” said Drew. “I thought it had tipped off my glove. You never know how the ball is going to come off the grass when it hits it down there. I got the ball, spun and threw it back in. I was kind of surprised he didn’t go for (second).”

Crawford made it to second on a wild pitch, but that was as far as he was able to advance in the inning. And the Devil Rays didn’t come close again to taking the lead.

A good idea

Some might think it was a little early to give yourself up with a sacrifice bunt.

But the Sox’ Cora just felt it was the right thing to do. So, after Coco Crisp led off the first with a triple, Cora pulled a bunt to the right side, hitting the ball relatively hard between the pitcher and first base.

Pitcher Edwin Jackson fielded the ball and threw out Cora, but Crisp scored and the Sox had a quick 1-0 lead.

“I saw the first baseman was playing back and I thought if I could get it down we could get a run,” said Cora. “We haven’t been scoring runs the way we’re supposed to, so getting a lead is good for us.”

Perfect position

Jacoby Ellsbury spelled Manny Ramirez in left field in the starting lineup, and right away the Sox benefited defensively, strictly by placement on the outfield grass.

Ramirez plays a very shallow left field, basically standing in the shortstop’s shadow. He can steal hits on bloopers, but loses range and depth on anything hit over his head.

Yesterday, Crawford scalded a liner to left with one out in the first. Had Ramirez been in the outfield, the ball would have gone for an extra-base hit. But Ellsbury was positioned where most left fielders play in Fenway Park, a lot deeper than where Ramirez stations himself.

So Ellsbury calmly made an easy catch on the ball.

Later in the inning, Ellsbury, a center fielder by trade who had extensive pregame tutelage from coach DeMarlo Hale in how to play left field at Fenway, had his first trip to the corner to field a ball after the carom.

He did so perfectly, even though it was a routine double by Brendan Harris.

The Ortiz shift

With a right-hander on the mound, and the likelihood that David Ortiz would pull the ball, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon used the basic shift on the Sox’ designated hitter.

Maddon, who used a four-outfielder alignment against Ortiz last year, had second baseman Ty Wigginton swung over in the hole and back a bit on the outfield grass with shortstop Brendan Harris on the second-base side of the second-base bag and third baseman Akinori Iwamura standing where the shortstop generally stands.

On Tuesday night, with a left-hander on the mound, Maddon played his infielders in their normal spots on the assumption that Ortiz would be less likely to pull everything.

For Ortiz’s first at-bat yesterday, he struck out, losing his bat into the stands on his follow-through.

Using a different bat in his second plate appearance, Ortiz lashed a 3-and-1 pitch to right for a single.

Better contact

The line in the boxscore doesn’t look so hot. In fact, it looks similar to what the Sox and their fans have been seeing the last three weeks or so.

Julio Lugo went 0-for-3.

But while Lugo took the collar for the day, he by no means looked like the same hitter whose offensive drought had reached 0-for-33 before Tuesday night, when the Sox shortstop went 2-for-3, including a two-run single.

Lugo had been feeling for the ball, swinging more and more defensively as the slump lengthened. Yesterday, though, Lugo hit the ball with more authority. He lined to center in his first at-bat. He lined harder and deeper to center in his second at-bat. He hit a more routine fly ball to center in his final at-bat.

skrasner@projo.com