The Sox received a strong effort from Clay Buchholz, who posted one of his better starts of the season.
And Adrian Gonzalez appeared to win it in the seventh with a go-ahead, three-run jack. But Alfredo Aceves ultimately couldn't preserve the lead, giving up a two-run shot to Sean Rodriguez.
That's the unpredictable nature of sports.
Mid 9th, Rays 4-3: After Aceves blew his third save of the season, the Red Sox will attempt to go for more late-inning heroics.
On Saturday, Saltalamacchia got the team's first walk-off victory of the season. This time around, Rays closer Fernando Rodney will look to avenge himself.
The closer was perfect for the Rays until Saturday's hiccup. He's 15-for-16 in save chances.
4:50 p.m.: Sean Rodriguez went yard in the ninth inning, hitting a two-run jack. And in the process, Alfredo Aceves blew the save.
End 8th, Red Sox 3-2: The bases were loaded for Adrian Gonzalez, so was lightning going to strike twice on Sunday?
Not this at-bat. Gonzalez grounded into a force out, which ended the inning and kept things at a one-run game.
Now, it's time for Alfredo Aceves to come in and try to record the save.
4:28 p.m.: Wade Davis is marching out to relieve Jeremy Hellickson. Jake McGee later entered for Davis.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 3-2: The Red Sox made a good amount of defensive switches, moving Gonzalez to first base, Youkilis to third and inserting Che-Hsuan Lin at right.
With a one-run game, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine couldn't take any risks. This time around, he elected to keep Gonzalez in.
And why wouldn't he? Gonzalez just belted a three-run jack and it could be what he needs to get his power surge back.
4:08 p.m.: Vicente Padilla is entering for Franklin Morales.
End 7th, Red Sox 3-2: That was Gonzalez' second homer at Fenway of the season and only his fourth of the year.
He was rather pumped after hitting that one, doing a little fist pump around the bases and giving Saltalamacchia some playful pushes upon crossing home.
Also, Franklin Morales is coming in for Clay Buchholz.
3:57 p.m.: Adrian Gonzalez went from possible goat to hero, unloading a three-run shot to the Green Monster seats.
Mid 7th, Rays 1-0: Second base umpire Mark Carlson has been forced to make some tough calls in this one.
After calling Dustin Pedroia out at second in the first inning, he called Sean Rodriguez safe at second in a similar sequence — which had Pedroia and Bobby Valentine livid once again.
Will Rhymes eventually drove in Rodriguez with a single to add to the gap.
End 6th, Rays 1-0: Jeremy Hellickson is positioning himself for a complete game. He's tossed 68 pitches through six innings.
There are three more innings to go, but if he maintains this pace, he could go the distance. Hellickson has stifled the Red Sox all afternoon with his arsenal.
And that was a seven-pitch inning for you guys.
Mid 6th, Rays 1-0: Another inning, another nice performance for Clay Buchholz. He ran up his pitch count a little bit in the sixth, so Scott Atchison is warming up now.
Still, despite yielding a run, he's done well and needs to maintain this momentum. The Red Sox hitters, on the other hand, are looking to step it up.
That's unless they want more late-inning heroics.
End 5th, Rays 1-0: Daniel Nava may have grounded into a double play to end that inning, but he's been a valuable piece of the puzzle for the Red Sox.
Even though Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit the walk-off homer on Saturday, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine still credits Nava for getting on base and setting it up.
Valentine is a huge fan of Nava.
Mid 5th, Rays 1-0: All it took was nine pitches for Clay Buchholz to handle business that inning.
And it took nine pitches for Jeremy Hellickson to end the inning before that. So for the second straight day, can we say pitcher's duel?
To Buchholz' credit, he is providing some stability after saying that he owed the offense some strong innings.
End 4th, Rays 1-0: After a rough first start against the Sox in April, Jeremy Hellickson has bounced back in his last two starts.
He's limited the Red Sox batters to just three hits so far, which is attributed to his effective fastball and cutter. He's sprinkled in a few offspeed pitches too.
Mid 4th, Rays 1-0: It was bound to happen, but Adrian Gonzalez recorded an error in the outfield.
He actually played Matt Joyce's ball off the right field wall pretty well, but he misfired the cutoff through to Dustin Pedroia at second.
It allowed Joyce, who already had a double, to advance to third. Ben Zobrist managed to score Joyce with a ground out in the next at-bat.
End 3rd, 0-0: Scott Podsednik continues to swing a nice bat, collecting a single in the third.
With two outs and Podsednik on second, Dustin Pedroia had the opportunity to drive him in. Instead, he flew out and the game remains scoreless.
Looks like we have another pitcher's duel on our hands — for now.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Everything is clicking for Saltalamacchia. The catcher fired a perfect throw to second to get Will Rhymes stealing.
And in the meanwhile, Clay Buchholz has pitched well, striking out another batter and inducing a groundout.
End 2nd, 0-0: Saturday's hero, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, grounded into a force out to start the game.
Still, Saltalamacchia is coming off a grueling stretch that included needing to go on IV's. That's what made his walk-off memorable.
Saltalamacchia said he got goosebumps after it and insisted it would remain a memory forever.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: This was a strong inning for Clay Buchholz, who struck out two batters in the second.
Now, remember, he started off hot in his last one before unraveling in the third inning. Pay close attention because he's admitted that big innings have haunted him.
This is a nice start, but it's still too early in the game to judge his effectiveness.
End 1st, 0-0: That was a close play at the second base. After Dustin Pedroia belted a single, he tried to turn it into a double.
But he was gunned down. Pedroia and Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine weren't happy about the call and complained.
From my view in the press box, it looked like Pedroia was out.
Mid 1st, 0-0: And Adrian Gonzalez just got his first test of the afternoon, having to track down a fly ball in the sun.
He got the job done, snagging Ben Zobrist's fly ball and ended the inning. The fans at Fenway also took notice, giving him a strong round of applause.
It'll be interesting to see how Gonzalez handles those fly balls with the sun this bright.
12 p.m.: Here are the lineups.
Red Sox
Mike Aviles, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Gonzalez, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Daniel Nava, LF
Scott Podsednik, CF
Clay Buchholz, P
Rays
Carlos Pena, 1B
B.J. Upton, CF
Matt Joyce, LF
Ben Zobrist, RF
Luke Scott, DH
Sean Rodriguez, SS
Drew Sutton, 3B
Will Rhymes, 2B
Chris Gimenez, C
Jeremy Hellickson, P
8 a.m. ET: It took late-inning heroics by Jarrod Saltalamacchia to salvage the second game of the series against the Rays (28-19). The Red Sox (23-23) will now attempt to win the series with Clay Buchholz, who is 4-2 with a 7.84 ERA, on the mound.
In his last start against the Rays, Buchholz went five innings but allowed just two runs and one walk while striking out five. After a no-decision in his last outing, the right-hander is looking to give the Red Sox offense some longevity and is attempting to avoid big innings where he allows a bevy of runs. He'll go up against Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who is 4-1 with a 2.73 ERA this season and picked up his first loss of the season in his last appearance against the Blue Jays.
Hellickson was impressive when he started against the Red Sox on May 16, yielding just one run through six frames.
For more details and analysis from Fenway Park, follow NESN.com's live blog. Tune into NESN's pre-game show at 12:30 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
