Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was down-and-out after failing to keep the Rays at bay in the the ninth inning last night at Fenway Park.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — The Tampa Bay Rays picked the right time to finally win at Fenway Park.

With first place in the American League East standings at stake, the Rays won for the first time in the eight tries here to remain at the top of the division with a stunning 5-4 victory over the Red Sox.

“I was hoping that trend would continue,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of the Rays’ futility at Fenway. “We’ll come back [today].

“I’m sure that was a fun game to watch. It was a fun game to be a part of, but we didn’t like the ending too much.”

Boston had a 4-3 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning when closer Jonathan Papelbon entered the game. The 37,573 fans figured the game was won and the Red Sox would be back in first place for the first time since the All-Star break.

Not so.

Papelbon blew the save opportunity — the fifth time he’s done that this season — when he surrendered two runs, including a solo home run to pinch-hitter Dan Johnson, who was called up from Triple-A Durham earlier in the day. Tampa increased its lead to a game and a half over Boston.

“We got to our bullpen a little quicker than we wanted to,” said Francona. “Everybody did such a good job, and all of a sudden we jump in front. Pap came out and got behind (Johnson) 3-0, fought back but gave him six pitches to look at and all of sudden we’re tied. They put some pretty good swings on him tonight.”

On Monday, Papelbon recorded his 36th save of the season — one shy of his career-high set last year — but last night he stumbled.

“That happens,” said Francona. “Guys aren’t perfect, and when you’re pitching in that situation, it’s certainly more glaring. He showed Johnson five fastballs and [Johnson] got the head of the bat on the last one.”

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a RBI-double by Kevin Youkilis. The Red Sox kept that margin until the Rays pushed a pair of runs across in the top of the third inning for a 2-1 advantage.

Tampa added to its lead on a RBI-double by Jason Bartlett in the top of the fourth inning for a 3-1 advantage before the Sox’ Mike Lowell crushed a solo home run over the Monster Seats to cut the deficit to one. The shot was Lowell’s 16th of the season, and first at Fenway Park since June 12 versus Baltimore.

Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was done after facing one batter in the sixth inning, allowing three runs on eight hits with four walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander left the one-run game in the hands of the Sox’ bullpen and it kept the Rays at bay — until the ninth.

“It was a fight all night,” said Francona, referring to Matsuzaka’s outing. “He was fighting to establish his fastball and he never really was able to. Still, he never gave in, but it was a fight all night.”

Lefty Javier Lopez, right-hander Manny Delcarmen and southpaw Hideki Okajima stifled Tampa’s offense to open the door for the Sox’ Jason Bay to produce his heroics.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Warwick native and Rays reliever Dan Wheeler issued a walk to Youkilis. Bay then crushed a 1-1 offering from Wheeler and deposited it into the first row of the Monster Seats just to the right of the foul pole to give Boston a 4-3 lead.

“There were a lot of (momentum) swings,” said Francona. “Up and down. We gave ourselves a chance, and Jason took a great swing. We did some good things to give ourselves a chance.”

Papelbon entered the game with the sellout crowd going nuts and thinking that a victory was within the club’s grasp, along with first place.

That noise quickly turned to silence and disbelief as the closer blew his save opportunity. Johnson led off the inning with a solo homer over the Red Sox bullpen in right to tie the game at 4-4.

“Falling behind, 3-0, is obviously not what you want to do,” said Papelbon. “I threw the ball over the middle of the plate, belt high, and he was looking fastball. It’s part of the game. It’s not my first blown save, and it won’t be my last.”

The Rays weren’t done with Papelbon.

With one out, Carlos Perez doubled and then scored the eventual game-winning run on Dioner Navarro RBI-double for a 5-4 victory. Wheeler ended up with the win.

“The way I drew up, it was me getting the hold and Kazmir getting the win,” said Wheeler. “But it doesn’t matter how we did it. The only thing that matters is that we won. It definitely would have been heartbreaking if these guys didn’t pick me up. It was really tough for me to give up that home run. The way they came back to pick me up, it’s a testament to every guy in this clubhouse that we don’t ever give up.”

It was a lost opportunity for the Red Sox last night, and they’ll look for retribution tonight.

“It was a nice win for them,” said the Sox’ Mike Lowell. “We have all the confidence in the world with Pap, but he’s a human being and sometimes that’s going to happen. He’s been so good for us for three years it feels like he’s automatic, but they have a good team. It’s a tough loss, but we still have a chance to win the series.”

The Rays have done a good job keeping the doubters second-guessing themselves. Time and again Tampa has heard it was just a flash in the pan. At some point the Rays’ season would collapse and they would go back to just being the same old cellar-dwelling Rays.

That hasn’t been the case at all.

“I’m glad we were able to pull this off,” added Wheeler. “It puts us in position to win the series and stay in first place. We’re not satisfied. We want to win [today].”

jmcdonal@projo.com