ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Red Sox lost two starting position players last night, but are hoping neither one will be out for long.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia was the first one to go, leaving after the top of the third because of a bruised left elbow, suffered when a 92-mph fastball from Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson scored a direct hit on his not-so-funny bone.

Eric Hinske was the next casualty. He suffered a muscle cramp/light strain in his right calf after stealing second base and then getting up and racing to third when the throw from catcher Josh Paul careened off his body and ricocheted into left field in the fourth inning.

Pedroia was replaced by Alex Cora in the bottom of the third. Bobby Kielty took over for Hinske in left field in the bottom of the fourth.

Pedroia, who stayed in the game long enough to score the team’s only run, on a sacrifice fly by Mike Lowell, had x-rays taken at the park and they came back negative.

“It hit me right on the bone and that guy throws hard,” said Pedroia, who lost the feeling in his hand for a while because of the impact.

“I can’t bend my arm that much. But I’ll get treatment and give it a go tomorrow. I wasn’t concerned (with the numbness). I just hoped it didn’t break a bone,” said Pedroia, who said he’ll wear a protective pad on the elbow when he does return to action.

Hinske admitted he was worried as he tried to scamper to third.

“It felt like someone had kicked me in the calf,” said Hinske. “I felt it all the way to third base. I didn’t think much of it but it got tighter and tighter when I was standing at third. It hurts right now. It’s pretty sore. It’s weird. It scares you when something like that happens. I’ve never pulled a muscle. But I should be fine.”

Short on options

Once the Sox lost Pedroia and Hinske, manager Terry Francona lost a lot of roster flexibility. In fact, once he plucked Cora and Kielty off the bench, he was left with backup catcher Kevin Cash and left fielder Manny Ramirez as the only able-bodied position players.

Francona had committed to a day off for Ramirez, who has played in a team-high 123 of the Sox’ 127 games.

Francona had the option of bringing Ramirez off the bench to pinch-hit, but could only do so for an outfielder. As a result, Cora batted with two outs and Lugo at second base in the eighth, an otherwise prime possibility for batting Ramirez. Cora fanned.

Had Kielty come up in a key spot later, Ramirez likely would have batted, but that didn’t come to pass.

The ump knows

The first-base umpire, John Hirschbeck, ruled Tampa Bay right fielder Delmon Young had caught Lowell’s low liner with David Ortiz at first base and one out in the ninth.

Young wasn’t so sure. He dived for the ball, which found its way into his glove, and Young came up firing — to second base — clearly thinking that he had trapped the ball. Replays seemed to indicate he had.

But the Red Sox didn’t protest. Because of the way the ball was hit and Young approached it, Ortiz had to hang close to first. So either Lowell was going to be out on a catch, or Ortiz was going to be forced at second, correctly reasoned Francona.

“There would have been an out one way or the other,” said Francona.

The way it goes

Francona has been saying that despite Eric Gagne’s troubles out of the bullpen, he wasn’t going to use him any differently, that he would be calling in the right-hander in the situations the Red Sox envisioned for him when they acquired him at the non-waiver trading deadline from Texas on July 31.

Those situations were expected to be the eighth inning as part of a close-them-out trio of Hideki Okajima (seventh), Gagne (eighth) and Jonathan Papelbon (ninth).

But on Tuesday night, with the game getting close, Francona called on Okajima to replace Manny Delcarmen with one out in the seventh and then summoned Papelbon with a man on and two outs in the eighth, designated hitter Jonny Gomes at the plate and Boston ahead, 8-6.

Gagne never got up in the bullpen. Papelbon finished up for a four-out save.

Francona explained his decision to stay away from the struggling Gagne.

“The way it was all set up, (all the relievers) were coming in an inning early and we were going to go to ‘Pap’ in the eighth to face Gomes rather than use everybody in the bullpen,” said Francona after Tuesday night’s game.

“To me, it’s not a deviation (from the plan for Gagne’s use). That’s how we had it drawn up (Tuesday night). And now we’ll have Gagne for (last night),” he said.

Wakefield’s OK

Tim Wakefield threw a side session yesterday afternoon and reported there were no issues with his back. On Monday night, Wakefield’s back stiffened up so he was pulled after only 77 pitches and seven shutout innings. He’ll start again Saturday night in Chicago.

Put a sock in it

Curt Schilling, a free agent after this season, intimated on a radio show in Boston on Tuesday that he wouldn’t be averse to signing and pitching for the lowly Devil Rays.

Francona’s take on Schilling’s comments?

“As a blanket statement, I’d much rather us win games and let free agency come when it’s supposed to,” he said.

Around the bases

When J.D. Drew took a called third strike in the second inning, it marked the 80th time he had fanned in 368 at-bats for the Red Sox, meaning he has whiffed 21.7 percent of his official at-bats. That is amazingly dead-on with his career numbers. In 3,161 official big-league at-bats before coming to Boston, Drew had struck out 685 times, a 21.6 percentage. … Hinske swiped his third base of the year, and while that may seem like a lot, given his body type, his career-high is 12, his total during the 2003 and 2004 seasons with Toronto.

skrasner@projo.com