Youkilis drives Red Sox to win over Tampa Bay

MIAMI (Reuters) - Kevin Youkilis had three hits and scored two runs to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Thursday.

Mike Lowell drove in Youkilis with a sacrifice-fly in the sixth inning to put Boston up 4-3 before they added two more runs in the seventh.

The win gave the Red Sox (78-55) a three-game lead in the American League wild card over the Texas Rangers and a six-game advantage over Tampa Bay (72-61). It was Boston's first series win at Tropicana Field since September 21-23, 2007.

"They have to play really, really well, and we have to play poorly (for the Rays to catch us)," Boston third baseman Mike Lowell told reporters. "If they play like they have this year and we play like we have, I think six games are a lot."

The Red Sox got off to a fast start with Jason Bay hitting a two-run double to score Victor Martinez and Youkilis in the top of the first but Jason Bartlett and Carlos Pena hit back immediately to tie it at 2-2 in the bottom of the same inning.

Rocco Baldelli his a solo home run in the top of the second to make it 3-2 before Tampa Bay tied it at 3-3 in the fourth on an RBI double from catcher Gregg Zaun.

Boston starter Clay Bucholz (4-3) took the win after allowing three runs over six innings, and Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 34th save of the season.

Rays starter David Price lasted 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs. Third baseman Evan Longoria had two hits, including a double, to continue his success against the Red Sox. Longoria entered the game hitting .362 against Boston this season.

Tampa Bay outfielder B.J. Upton sprained his ankle after colliding with Carl Crawford in the fifth and was likely to miss the next two games, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

"It would have been nice to at least win two out of three, but it's not devastating," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "There are still 29 games left, and we're going to do this thing one day at a time in spite of everybody wincing."

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)