BOSTON — As Jason Varitek cruised into second base, courtesy of his two-out double in the ninth, the speculation quickly began.

Would the Red Sox, in a 1-1 tie with the Devil Rays, run for Varitek, who is one of the slowest players on the team?

Boston had Alex Cora on the bench. He’s a major speed upgrade over Varitek and if he didn’t get the chance to score, the Sox had Doug Mirabelli to put behind the plate for extra innings.

But manager Terry Francona and bench coach Brad Mills left in Varitek.

And Varitek made them look good by romping home with the winning run on Coco Crisp’s soft single to right.

The decision to stick with Varitek on the bases was a vote for defense over speed, especially with the team playing at home, said Mills. If Boston had been trailing, 1-0, the Red Sox might have been more apt to run Cora for Varitek. But if Varitek didn’t score and the game had gone to the 10th, at least Boston would have had its starting catcher and captain behind the plate, said Mills.

The key in Varitek scoring was his lead and then his secondary lead as the pitch was delivered to the plate.

“(Third-base coach) DeMarlo (Hale) and (first-base coach) Luis (Alicea) were trying to get him off the base to where he felt comfortable (when Al Reyes threw to Crisp),” said Mills. “They (the Rays) were playing back in the infield, as they should be, and after a few pitches we got him (far enough) off.”

Mills said the fact Delmon Young was playing relatively deep in right, respecting the pop in Crisp’s bat, also played a role in Varitek being able to score relatively easily, sliding in safely as the throw was short and up the first-base line a bit.

Gagne just let it go

Even an All-Star such as Eric Gagne can live and learn.

Okay, so he wasn’t perfect last night, but the right-hander certainly looked sharper than he had in two meltdowns in Baltimore when he helped turn leads into Boston losses.

On Sunday, Gagne fired seven straight fastballs to Miguel Tejada and was stung for a game-tying two-run homer on the seventh one.

Last night, Gagne entered a game in the ninth in which the Sox were trailing, 1-0. He was booed.

But this time he didn’t let his adrenaline take over. He mixed his pitches. And when he did throw a fastball, he didn’t try to “muscle” it to the plate; he just let it go, giving it more late life.

Gagne struck out three, surrendering a well-crunched two-out double to right-center to Brendan Harris in his inning.

He began by slipping a changeup past Carlos Pena for a strikeout. He threw six pitches in the sequence – fastball, curveball, changeup, fastball, changeup, changeup. The key was that he rebounded from a 3-and-0 count in this at-bat.

Young was next. He fanned on four pitches – curveball, fastball, changeup, fastball. Young couldn’t catch up to the last pitch, a high 93-mph fastball.

Harris saw a fastball and a curve before roping his double on another 93-mph fastball.

But Jonny Gomes had no chance, striking out in a four-pitch at-bat – changeup, curveball, curveball, fastball. Gomes, who had waved and missed the second curve, falling behind in the count, was frozen by the final pitch, which zipped across the plate at 93 mph.

Gagne left the mound to loud cheers. And a short time later, he was credited with his first win in a Red Sox uniform.

“I just relaxed and threw my pitches instead of trying to be perfect,” said Gagne. “Basically, it’s all mental. When I was down 3-and-0 (to Pena), I threw one of my best fastballs to get to 3-and-1. It was a quality pitch. Then I focused on succeeding instead of not failing.”

He wasn’t fooled twice

Mike Lowell guessed wrong on a pitch in the first inning and struck out.

But he got what he was looking for in the ninth and didn’t miss it, clubbing a tying homer.

Lowell batted with runners at first and third and two outs in the first. The count went to 3-and-1. Scott Kazmir, whose fastball touched 95 on the radar gun a few times in the inning, threw a 90-mph fastball on the outside corner. It wasn’t where Lowell wanted the pitch so he let it go, though it was called a strike.

Now, with the count full, Lowell had every reason to expect another fastball.

Kazmir and catcher Josh Paul, though, crossed him up. Kazmir threw an 85-mph slider that was in the dirt. Lowell, thinking fastball, started after it and couldn’t hold up when he belatedly realized he was swinging at a slider and not a fastball.

The ball bounced in the dirt and got a few feet away from Paul, but he recovered in enough time to throw out Lowell at first, ending the threat.

In the ninth, though, Lowell got ahead in the count at 2-and-0. He looked for a fastball cookie from Al Reyes, and when he got it, he crushed it over the Monster seats, tying the score at 1-1 and setting the stage for the heroics of Varitek and Crisp.

The wrong move, again

Manny Ramirez made a bad baserunning decision that croaked a budding rally in the third.

With David Ortiz on first and two outs, Ramirez ripped a base hit to right-center. Ortiz hustled around second and lumbered to third, drawing a throw from center fielder B.J. Upton.

The play was in front of Ramirez. The throw was high, over the cutoff man, but the Rays had no chance of getting Ortiz so third baseman Akinori Iwamura was able to run up and take the ball on a hop.

Still, Ramirez elected to try for second, an ill-advised gamble. Iwamura threw to second baseman Brendan Harris, who was waiting at the bag for Ramirez when he showed up a few seconds later on a belated slide.

It was the second time in three games that Ramirez tried to hustle the Red Sox an extra base but failed in situations where his baserunning instincts weren’t the best. On Sunday in Baltimore he tried to go from second to third on a ball in the dirt but was handily thrown out, costing the Sox a run in a game they ultimately lost in extra innings.

skrasner@projo.com