Red Sox starting pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka, top, and Josh Beckett watch the game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from the dugout during the first inning yesterday.

AP / Steve Nesius

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The road trip that saw them win just two of six games was hardly a success. Still, as the Red Sox packed and headed back to Boston last night, they were halfway home even before they were halfway home.

On the to-do list, the Sox can cross off: Clinch playoff spot.

Next: Win the division title.

Now comes some tough multi-tasking. The Sox want to win as many of their remaining six home games — two against Oakland, followed by four with Minnesota — and at the same time, prepare for the grind of the postseason.

“(Manager Terry Francona’s) got a fine line to walk,” said Tim Wakefield, the losing pitcher in yesterday’s 5-4 defeat to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, “between winning the division and keeping guys healthy.”

“We’d really like to win the division,” said Francona, when asked about his pending balancing act. “But we’ll do what’s best for the team. The timing of some of these guys going down isn’t good, but it’s not tragic because it’s not the playoffs. It’s hard going into the final week of the season with some of these guys not available, but it’s better than not having them available in the playoffs.”

Even as Francona awaits the return of Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez, there exists the issue of resting his own healthy — though somewhat spent — regulars. Surely, 30-somethings such as Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew would benefit from some down time.

But the Sox can’t be at cross purposes, either. There are still games to be won.

“We want to win the division,” said Alex Cora, who spelled Dustin Pedroia at second and chipped in with an eighth-inning homer that pulled the Sox to within a run. “We want to have the best record in baseball. We’ve got a lot on our plate and we’ve just got to go do our thing.”

Winning yesterday and sweeping the Devil Rays would have made the homestand a bit easier. As it is, with the Yankees winning yesterday, the magic number to win their first A.L. East crown since 1995 remains stuck at six.

Tampa took a 2-0 lead in the second on Delmon Young’s two-run homer, a pitch that Wakefield labeled his one mistake of the afternoon. Young had come into the game just 1-for-14 against the Sox knuckleballer before drilling one into the left-center seats.

“He just hit my bat,” Young said. “I just swing and hopefully make contact. You just hope the ball hits your bat because you don’t know where it’s going. (Wakefield) probably doesn’t know where it’s going.”

The lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth, when Young doubled and scored on Jonny Gomes’ single to left, then 4-0 when Wakefield struggled with his control and the Rays took advantage of three walks.

The Sox offered little resistance against Edwin Jackson through the first five innings, with Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out single in the third their only hit until the sixth.

Run-scoring singles from Ortiz and Coco Crisp and a based-loaded walk to Drew brought the Sox to within one and chased Jackson from the game.

Reliever Jon Switzer inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out, but he shut the Sox down when he got Eric Hinske to hit a comebacker that resulted in an inning-ending 1-2-3 double-play.

The Rays nicked Julian Tavarez for a run in the sixth, later offset by Cora’s homer. But Warwick’s Dan Wheeler got three groundouts after Cora’s strike, and closer Al Reyes, who had three blown saves against the Sox this season, turned them back without incident in the ninth.

Homeward bound, the Sox know what they need.

“It’s a challenge,” said Wakefield. “We’re in the postseason, so our next goal is to win the division. We didn’t get it done today.”

“We always want to win a series, and we did that here,” Cora pointed out. “Now we’ve got turn the page like we always do and get ready for the next series. We’ve got to win our next two series. If we do that, we’ll be in position to win (the East).”

smcadam@projo.com