The Sox gave Japan its first taste of what has made them World Series champions twice in the last four seasons with a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Oakland Athletics before 44,628 in the Tokyo Dome. The Sox came from behind twice before Manny Ramirez made all that jet lag, frequent-flyer miles and early wakeup alarms back home worthwhile with a two-run double that snapped a 4-all tie and made a winner of native son Hideki Okajima. Jonathan Papelbon had a shaky outing, giving up a run on three hits and a walk, to earn the save.

Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches to the A’s Bobby Crosby during the first inning in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. Reuters photo by Kiyoshi Ota.

The Sox were not assured of victory until an egregious base-running mistake by leftfielder Emil Brown, who doubled home a run in the bottom of the 10th against Papelbon but was then erased in a rundown after first baseman Kevin Youkilis cut off Dustin Pedroia’s relay throw to the plate.

Brown’s blunder was magnified when the next hitter, Bobby Crosby, lined a single to center, and third baseman Jack Hannahan, who earlier hit a two-run home run in the sixth off Kyle Snyder, banged another base hit through the left side. That brought pitching coach John Farrell to the mound for a visit, and Papelbon retired catcher Kurt Suzuki on a tapper to first to end the game.

The Sox winning rally began when Julio Lugo beat out an infield hit to third and was bunted to second by Pedroia. Youkilis struck out, but David Ortiz was walked intentionally, bringing up Ramirez, who had doubled home two runs in the sixth to tie the score at 2. Ramirez launched a drive that hit high off the wall in right-center.

On a night of firsts, this was the sweetest of all, Boston’s first extra-inning win ever in 108 seasons of openers.

If the Sox had not come to Japan, rookie Brandon Moss would never have left Florida with the club. He would not have been in the starting lineup if right fielder J.D. Drew had not felt some tightness in his back while running sprints in the outfield just before the game, forcing manager Terry Francona to make him a late scratch.

But without Moss, the Sox would not have taken Oakland to extra innings. Moss singled home the go-ahead run in a three-run Sox rally in the sixth, and with the Sox two outs from defeat in the ninth, the left-handed hitting rookie connected for his first major-league home run to tie the score at 4.

Boston’s Manny Ramirez his a two-run double off the A’s Huston Street in the 10th inning. The Red Sox won 6-5. Associated Press photo by Koji Sasahara

Moss was one of the extra players the Sox were allowed to bring to Japan because they were exempt from having to trim their roster to 25 players because of their early start date. While the other 28 big-league teams are still in spring training, the Sox and Athletics were staging the earliest regular season opener in big-league history.

Moss’s home run allowed the Tokyo Dome crowd to erupt at the entrance of Okajima, the self-styled second banana to Daisuke Matsuzaka in the grand scheme of things but a hometown favorite here, where he pitched for the Yomiuri Giants.

RELATED CONTENT:
OPENING DAY IN JAPAN > RED SOX 6, A’S 5 (10 INNINGS) Red Sox bats wake up just in time
Box score
VIDEO Ramirez | Moss | Papelbon | Ellsbury | Youkilis
BOSTON SPORTS BLOG TV outage at the worst time
Sox activate Sean Casey, put Josh Beckett on DL
J.D. Drew a late scratch with back tightness
Early risers catch game at local bars
PHOTO GALLERIES:
Opening Day in Japan game photos
Fans at the opener in Japan
Early birds catch the game at bars
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS

The cheers grew louder when Okajima struck out Kurt Suzuki to open the ninth, but there were some anxious moments after he issued a four-pitch walk to Mike Sweeney. Right fielder Travis Buck just missed realizing Okajima’s worst fears, his fly ball to deep center expiring in Jacoby Ellsbury’s glove, before second baseman Mark Ellis tapped out to the mound to send the game into extra innings.

The A’s Mark Ellis hits a solo home run against Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka during the first inning in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. Reuters photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon

This was only the fifth time the Sox have gone into extra innings in an opener, all since 1966. They lost the previous four, most recently in 1989, when the Steamer, Bob Stanley, took the loss in a 5-4 defeat to the Orioles in 11 innings in Baltimore.

While Ellsbury was the only Sox position player not in the 2007 Opening Day lineup — at least until Drew injured himself running sprints in the outfield just before the game — the Athletics have undergone an extreme makeover. Only three position players in manager Bob Geren’s lineup today — shortstop Bobby Crosby, Buck, and Ellis — played in the 2007 opener.

Gone are Jason Kendall, Shannon Stewart, Milton Bradley, Mike Piazza, Nick Swisher, and Opening Day starting pitcher Dan Haren. Eric Chavez, the Gold Glove third baseman, is back on the disabled list (lower back), after missing the final two months last season.

First baseman Daric Barton, who was hitting in the three-hole last night, and Suzuki, who is from Hawaii, were in Triple-A Sacramento when last season began. Jack Cust, the DH and cleanup hitter, was in Triple-A with San Diego. Brown was with the Royals. Hannahan was with Detroit’s Triple-A team in Toledo. Ryan Sweeney, the center-fielder who came from the White Sox in the Swisher deal, was in Triple-A Charlotte for Chicago after being ranked the team’s No. 1 prospect.

Red Sox fans watch their team practice before the season opener against the A’s in Tokyo on Tuesday. Associated Press photo by Shizuo Kambayashi

Oakland’s streak of eight straight winning seasons came to an end last season, when they finished last in the AL West. They used the disabled list 22 times and lost 1,259 games on the DL, a club record. With the way GM Billy Beane jettisoned established players in the off-season, the A’s look hard-pressed to compete in the American League West.

But the Oakland Four-A’s proved a handful for Matsuzaka, who warmed up while the awa-odori dancers and hip-hoppers went through their elaborate paces during pregame ceremonies but was out of synch from the time 45,000-plus flashbulbs commemorated his first pitch back on his side of the Big Pond. (For the record, Buck, first-pitch swinging, rolled out to second).

They also did a number on Snyder, who needed just two batters to give back the 3-2 lead he inherited from Matsuzaka in the sixth, Crosby bouncing a single up the middle and Hannahan following with a blast into the right-field seats to put the Athletics ahead, 4-3.

Matsuzaka, in a poster-sized message to his fans for the Japanese sports daily, Sankei Sports, wrote in English — World Series repeat. Cy Young Award. Boston Red Sox — then signed his name, number and the date.

Then he proceeded to pitch like a typical late-March game in spring training. Ellis, Oakland’s second batter of the game, golfed a drive into the left-field seats to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. He went walk, hit batsman, wild pitch, walk on the next three batters, showing virtually no feel for his off-speed pitches. He averted a potentially bigger inning by pouncing on Crosby’s chopper to the left of the mound, bare handing the ball and recording the out as Barton scored Oakland’s second run, and struck out Hannahan on a full count.

“Awaodori,” a traditional dance, is performed before a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo on Tuesday. Associated Press photo by Shizuo Kambayashi

By the time he got back to the dugout, Matsuzaka had thrown 30 pitches. By the end of two innings, that number had doubled, as Matsuzaka gave up a leadoff single to Suzuki and walked two more batters to load the bases with two out. Once again, a strikeout bailed out Matsuzaka, who caught Cust looking at a down-and-in slider that generously was called a strike.

Matsuzaka regained his equilibrium over the next three innings, even though he issued his fifth walk to Hannahan with two out in the third. The Athletics hit just one ball out of the infield before Matsuzaka was through, Sweeney flying to left to start the fourth. Matsuzaka whiffed Buck on three pitches and broke Ellis’s bat on a groundout to third to end the fourth, then had consecutive whiffs of Barton and Cust before Brown grounded to third to end the fifth.

Matsuzaka was gone after throwing 95 pitches. He allowed just two hits, including the home run by Ellis, and struck out six, but the five walks are sure to renew concerns that he will repeat last season’s pattern of running up his pitch counts early.

But Matsuzaka, who joined Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese pitchers to throw a big-league opener, was spared the embarrassment of defeat on his home turf when the Sox rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the sixth against Oakland starter Joe Blanton.

Dustin Pedroia doubled to the wall in right and Youkilis drew a four-pitch walk. Ortiz fouled out to third — the foul territory in the Tokyo Dome rivals that of Oakland’s McAfee Coliseum in acreage — but Ramirez lined a double past third into the left-field corner, driving home Pedroia and Youkilis with the tying runs. Mike Lowell went down swinging, bringing up Moss, who joins shortstop Craig Grebeck (2001) and Rudy Pemberton (1997) as the most improbable Sox Opening Day starters in recent memory.

Moss, playing because Drew informed manager Terry Francona that his back tightened up while running sprints just before game time, ripped a ground single through the right side, Ramirez scoring to give the Sox their first lead of 2008.

But Snyder couldn’t hold the advantage, and two former stalwarts of the Sox pen, Alan Embree and Keith Foulke, took the game to the ninth, where closer Huston Street was waiting.

Ellsbury gave the Sox their first highlight-reel moment of the season when he made a leaping catch at the wall in dead-center to take away extra bases from Brown in the eighth.