Boston's 24-year-old lefty hadn't allowed an earned run in two postseason starts in the ALDS after winning 16 regular-season games and clearly surpassing Josh Beckett as the current Red Sox ace.

Some experts were pegging him as The Guy they'd want on the mound — over Johan Santana, Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia.

Well, The Guy was lit up in a third inning that saw a pair of balls sail over the Green Monster.

It was almost as if Red Sox Nation had already marked down a Game 3 victory with Lester on the mound.

Automatic.

Now instead of being in control of the best-of-7 ALCS, Boston is in a must-win situation Tuesday night against the Rays.

"It is," Tampa third baseman Evan Longoria said of the pressure being squarely on the Red Sox now. "The pressure's on them, but they've been known to come back. We've still got our work cut out for us."

It appeared as though Lester, who won all three of his starts against Tampa Bay this season and had a miniscule 0.90 ERA against the Rays, was going to breeze through the Rays lineup yet again after a five-pitch first inning.

However, after what appeared to be a harmless single to Jason Bartlett in the third, Akinori Iwamura followed with a wall double and B.J. Upton launched a three-run blast that cleared just about everything in left field.

Then, after striking out Carlos Pena, Longoria connected on another bomb to make it 5-0. That put the postseason dinger total of Upton and Longoria at nine, the most by a pair of teammates under the age of 25.

"Primarily, first of all, they come equipped with all the bells and whistles," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

Translation: These two are oozing with talent.

Upton, who hit nine home runs the entire season, has five thus far in the playoffs.

"He's showing how special he is," teammate Carl Crawford said. "There's a reason why he was the number two pick in the draft. He's picked the right time to show it."

Paul Byrd was warming up and Lester had thrown just 44 pitches. Lester battled to make it through 5 2/3 innings while allowing eight hits and five runs — including four earned.

He's entitled to an off-night here and there.

"I didn't execute for the most part on two pitches and they hurt me," Lester said.

His counterpart, Matt Garza, was terrific and held the Red Sox in check for six innings. The bullpen finished it off without much of an issue.

Things got so bad that Tampa's oft-injured Rocco Baldelli went deep in the eighth inning for his first postseason dinger.

Now Boston's season basically rests on the right arm of 42-year-old Tim Wakefield.

Oh, no.

He of the who-knows-what-you're gonna get knuckleball.

If it flutters, Boston has a chance to even the series. If not, the Red Sox could be in a 3-1 hole and having to reel off three straight — including a pair at the Trop.

"Our goal was to steal one here," Longoria said.

Mission accomplished.

Wakefield will go up against Andy Sonnanstine, who hasn't allowed a run and has out-pitched Josh Beckett in two starts against the Red Sox this season.

The problem these days is that David Ortiz is looking more and more like Jason Varitek. Ortiz is 4-for-26 in the postseason with just one extra-base hit and one RBI. Varitek is 3-for-23 and Red Sox fans will welcome the sight of backup catcher Kevin Cash on Tuesday night. Leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury has struggled as well.

The Rays aren't intimidated by the mighty Red Sox and Fenway Park. This was their 102nd victory of the season and also their ninth in the last dozen meetings against Boston.

The series certainly isn't over, but the Red Sox certainly have lost command.

In particular, their two aces.