Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, right, celebrates with teammate Dustin Pedroia after hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth inning of last night’s game at Fenway Park.

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The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — Is competition bringing out the best in Julio Lugo?

It was clear over the winter and in spring training that the Red Sox think very highly of young shortstop Jed Lowrie, and there’s no doubt the 2005 draft pick from Stanford was nipping at the heels of Lugo, who had a weak first season offensively and defensively for Boston in 2007.

An injury to Mike Lowell prompted the Red Sox to recall Lowrie from Pawtucket on April 10. Since arriving in the big leagues for the first time, Lowrie generally has sparkled. He has played three infield positions and he has stuck in a few clutch base hits along the way.

Lugo, meanwhile, already has committed six errors. And nine games ago, when Lowrie was beginning to make a favorable impression, Lugo was batting .238.

Maybe Lugo was feeling the heat. Maybe it’s just coincidence.

But since then, Lugo has fashioned a nine-game hitting streak, including an RBI single in the second inning that boosted his average to .333 (25-for-75).

He even has mixed in an outstanding defensive play or two. Last night he made a diving play to his left, something he rarely does. He got up and threw out the baserunner. He also made a strong relay throw, cutting down a runner at the plate in the second; turned a short-hopper up the middle into a nifty 6-3 double play; started a routine 6-4-3 twin-killing, and made a fine play in the hole.

And how well is Lugo going right now? He drifted back for a major-league popup hit by Vladimir Guerrero and dropped it. He calmly recovered, though, picking up the ball and throwing to second for a forceout.

He caught a hanger

For the last two seasons, the Angels generally have tried to get David Ortiz out with off-speed stuff — sliders, curveballs and changeups.

They mix in the occasional fastballs. It depends, naturally, on who is pitching and what stuff that pitcher may have. But the Angels’ pitchers have used the fastball as kind of a “show me” pitch while attacking him with the breaking stuff.

The problem with that philosophy, though, is that if you hang a breaking ball, even a struggling Ortiz can feast on it, which is what happened in the fifth inning.

Jon Garland hung a 74-mph curve on the inner half of the plate and Ortiz ripped it into the first row of seats in the right-field corner for a game-tying two-run homer.

Built-in danger

The headfirst slide into first base is not a universally accepted concept, partially because not everyone is convinced you get to the base faster that way, and also because there’s the fear of injury, such as a separated shoulder.

There’s a different feeling when it’s used to avoid a tag. It’s more accepted, but still the injury fear is there.

Last night, Dustin Pedroia beat out a grounder to deep short in the fifth, sliding wide and reaching out with his left hand to tag the base in a successful effort to avoid the tag of Casey Kotchman, who had to come off the bag to the home plate side to catch the throw from shortstop Erick Aybar.

Pedroia appeared to be injured as he got up from the bag. Trainer Paul Lessard checked on him. Pedroia stayed in the game and scored on Ortiz’s tying homer.

skrasner@projo.com