Boston’s Coco Crisp is subdued by Tampa Bay players after he was hit in the leg by a pitch from James Shields, resulting in a bench-clearing brawl and player ejections.

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The Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — Everywhere around him, chaos was erupting.

A Red Sox-Rays bench-clearing brawl. A Red Sox-Red Sox intramural tussle in the dugout.

But Jon Lester kept his composure, enduring 6 1/3 innings in pitching Boston to a 7-1 victory over Tampa Bay last night at Fenway Park for a sweep of the three-game first-place showdown and the team’s 13th straight home win.

The left-hander surrendered only one run , scattering eight hits as he improved his record to 4-3. Lester fanned five in the triumph, which boosted the Sox into a 1½-game lead over the Rays in the American League East standings.

Lester was given a nice cushion to work with early last night. In the first inning, after Dustin Pedroia was hit with a pitch and red-hot J.D. Drew ripped a double off the scoreboard in left-center, Manny Ramirez croaked Tampa Bay ace right-hander James Shields for a titanic three-run homer over the Green Monster.

That homer, Ramirez’s 13th of the year but his first at Fenway since April 19, put Boston on top, 3-0. Lester gave one run right back in the second on a double by Willy Aybar and a single by designated hitter Jonny Gomes.

Then Lester had to sit around for a long time before getting back to the mound again because of the bench-clearing brawl, touched off when Shields drilled Coco Crisp with a pitch on the upper part of his right thigh, leading off the second.

By the time Lester took the mound again, after the punches had been thrown, the players had been separated, the umpires had sorted things out and ejected Shields, Gomes and Crisp, the Red Sox were ahead, 4-1, thanks to Pedroia’s sacrifice fly.

And Lester didn’t give in again. His toughest jam came in the fourth when a one-out single by Dioner Navarro and Aybar’s second double put runners at second and third. Lester, though, fanned Cliff Floyd and retired Justin Ruggiano on a routine grounder, ending the threat.

The Sox’ boosted their lead to 7-1 in the fourth. Drew’s bases-loaded walk forced home Chris Carter, and Ramirez smacked a two-run single to left.

That pretty much sewed up the game and the sweep as Boston improved to 24-5 at Fenway this season and to 6-0 at home against the upstart Rays, who had swept a three-game series with the Sox at Tropicana Field in late April.

skrasner@projo.com