ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jonathan Papelbon is in the baseball business to save the Boston Red Sox.

Last night the Boston Red Sox saved Jonathan Papelbon.

After suffering only his second blown save of the season, Papelbon had to wait until the 12th inning to see if his teammates could bail him out, which they did in a dramatic and entertaining 12-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, Julio Lugo has a keen eye at the plate. He walked twice with the bases loaded, including his seventh plate appearance of the game, to push across the eventual game-winning run with two outs in Boston’s 12-inning victory.

With the win, Boston is 5-1 on this seven-game road trip that ends today.

“Our main focus in the bullpen, obviously, is to pick everyone up,” said Red Sox reliever Kyle Snyder, who earned the win. “We’ve got the best closer in baseball right now in my opinion and everyone’s opinion on this team. Baseball is a funny game. [A save] is not necessarily a sure thing, so you always have to keep it turned on down there no matter what happens. There are a lot of emotional swings down there for guys like myself throughout the course of the game. As soon as [the blown save] happened, I thought there was a good chance I would get the ball in the 10th and I managed to put up two zeros. Obviously our offensive exploded and we came back and got the win.”

The Sox’ Kevin Youkilis provided some much-needed insurance with a three-run double in the third extra frame of the night before Manny Ramirez added a two-run double en route to the victory.

The Devil Rays’ Jonny Gomes smacked a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot off Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the second game of this three-game set at 6-6 and force extra innings.

Papelbon’s blown save squashed any chance of teammate, friend and starter Jon Lester of earning his second consecutive victory since returning to the majors last Monday in Cleveland after successfully battling cancer in the offseason.

Papelbon suffered his first blown save of the season on May 1 against Oakland, and until last night, the hard-throwing right-hander had converted 15 straight save opportunities.

Entering last night’s game Boston was 60-1 when leading after the eighth inning this season.

Lester worked 6 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. He wasn’t as efficient last night as he was against the Indians — when he gave up two runs on five hits in six innings.

After Tampa starter James Shields struck out the Red Sox in order to begin the game, Boston pushed across a pair of runs in the second for an early lead. With one out, J.D. Drew doubled before Jason Varitek provided a two-out RBI-single for a 1-0 lead. Boston was able to load the bases and Julio Lugo followed with a walk to bring in the second run of the inning.

The Red Sox continued to give Lester some run support as David Ortiz led off the third inning with a double and later scored on a RBI-single by Drew for a 3-0 lead.

Lester cruised and kept the Tampa bats at bay until the Devil Rays scored in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to two. They could have added more if not for the glove of Ramirez, who made a tremendous running catch at the left-field wall before crashing into the padding near the foul pole. If he didn’t make the catch, it would have been extra bases and possibly a RBI for the Rays’ Gomes.

Lester worked a perfect fifth inning but allowed another run in the sixth and Tampa trailed, 3-2. Again, the southpaw’s teammates responded and gave him two more runs in the top of the seventh for a 5-2 lead.

Ortiz provided an RBI-single and Ramirez added a sacrifice fly at the most opportune time for Lester because he surrendered two solo home runs in the bottom of the seventh. Tampa now trailed by a run, 5-4. Gomes crushed a 0-1 offering and deposited it into the left-field bleachers, and Josh Paul collected his first homer of the season with a two-out blast into the right-field seats to end Lester’s outing.

Red Sox reliever Julian Tavarez, whom Lester replaced in the starting rotation, came in and ended the inning.

Again, Boston responded.

Mike Lowell, who had four hits in the game, led off the eighth with a hit to center field and stretched it into a hard-hustling double. Varitek added his second hit of the night, a single to put runners on the corners. With the Tampa defense playing in, Coco Crisp scorched a liner to second baseman Josh Wilson, who had trouble handling it. The ball trickled away, allowing Lowell to score Boston’s sixth run and regain a two-run lead.

jmcdonal@projo.com