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The home run was a no-doubter and so was the game — a 9-1 hammering administered to the Boston Red Sox by B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Seldom has Fenway Park been so silent in the ninth inning. Seldom have there been so many rows of empty seats. But as he stood in front of his locker and spoke so softly that reporters had to lean over each other to catch a word, Upton discussed it all dryly. Like it was no big deal, this three-run shot that was a kick in the gut to starter Jon Lester and the rest of the Red Sox.

The Rays have won at Fenway Park before. Not often, but they did win two of three games Sept. 8-10 — their first winning series in Boston since 1999.

"That series meant everything for our confidence," Upton said yesterday, after the Rays trashed Lester's postseason scoreless streak and slugged four homers to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. "This was a place we had a tough time winning, and like Joe [Maddon, the Rays manager] said: 'You want to get where we want to go, you got to win at Fenway.'

"Coming here his time," Upton added, "there wasn't any doubt."

This is nothing new for the Red Sox, of course. In 2004, they were down 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the ALCS and came back to win, going on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Last year, the Sox won the first game of their ALCS against the Cleveland Indians, lost the next three, then outscored the Indians 30-5 over the last three games to advance to the World Series, where they swept the Colorado Rockies.

So why did catcher Jason Varitek feel the need to repeat afterwards — on several occasions — that the Red Sox "are still in it?"

The Rays have now beaten Boston's two best pitchers. Josh Beckett was treated almost as an irrelevancy in Game 2, and yesterday, they took all of two innings to end Lester's streak of 16 without an earned run, thanks to Upton's fifth homer of the postseason. Combined with Saturday's 9-8 Tampa win in 11 innings, it is the first time in franchise history Red Sox pitchers have allowed eight runs or more in back-to-back playoff games.

Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena had solo homers and Rocco Baldelli slugged a three-run blast off a Sports Authority advertising sign — an authoritative blast if there ever was one. Longoria's homer was his fourth of the postseason, tying Miguel Cabrera's rookie record.

Matt Garza scattered six hits over six innings, striking out five and walking three and being charged with Boston's only run on a seventh-inning sacrifice fly by Jacoby Ellsbury.

Lester threw 96 pitches in 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven, allowing two of the homers. Upton's came on a fastball that didn't bore in enough. Longoria's came on a back-door cutter that, in Lester's view, "kind of acted more like a slider."

Lester said he felt "just okay, not great," and that is a concern for a young pitcher who has never worked this late into a season. Upton just shrugged when he was asked if Lester was less effective than usual.

"I think it's that we did a pretty good job with him," Upton said. "His cutter is his put-away pitch. He puts it down and in, and we didn't bite on it today. We made him throw more balls over the plate. His pitches … they start in the zone but then they go out of it. He wants you to bite on them."

The Red Sox will send knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to the mound tonight for his first postseason start this year, against the Rays' Andy Sonnanstine.

Wakefield is 19-5 with three saves lifetime against the Rays, including a 10-2 mark at Fenway. But two of those five losses were incurred this year.

"His career numbers are fantastic against them," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "There's been some struggles against them this year at times, but part of that is the fact they're now a 97-win team as opposed to 67."

The Red Sox need David Ortiz to get going. He is 4-for-27 this postseason, 0-for-10 in the ALCS and hasn't homered in the playoffs since Game 4 of the 2007 ALCS.

"You feel very fortunate when you get through a game and he hasn't impacted on it," Maddon said. "He may look bad one night, but you cannot take it for granted that he's not going to do it the next night."