ST. PETERSBURG—The Rays got David Ortiz, but they couldn’t stop Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay.

Youkilis singled off Chad Bradford for his third hit of the game and Bay followed with another single—also his third hit—that scored Dustin Pedroia in the sixth inning and brought the Boston Red Sox within 8-7 of the Rays tonight in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series at Tropicana Field.

Pedroia walked before J.P. Howell struck out Ortiz looking for the second out of the inning. Rays manager Joe Maddon brought on Bradford, who gave up the consecutive singles to Youkilis and Bay before Jed Lowrie flied out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jason Bartlett beat out an infield single with one out and took second on a fielder’s choice, but B.J. Upton struck out looking for the second time tonight to leave Bartlett stranded.

Tonight’s paid attendance: 34,904. That’s just under the 35,001 announced for Game 1 on Friday night and still qualifies as a sellout, according to Rays officials.