FORT MYERS, Fla. - Two Jason Bay misplays led to the Pirates' 5-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox this afternoon at City of Palms Park.

"It's been a strange run with a lot of things happening here lately," Bay said afterward. "Hopefully, it's all out of the way early."

The Pirates had taken a 1-0 lead off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the second, Brian Bixler following Doug Mientkiewicz's walk with a triple to deep center.

But Boston tied in the bottom half at Bay's expense. Manny Ramirez's routine fly ball dropped behind Bay, who clearly never saw it off the bat despite thick clouds hiding the sun, for a double.

"The wind was howling out there and, by the time I took a step in, it was too late to get back," Bay said. "That was about it."

One out later, J.D. Drew's one-hop smash to short eluded Bixler, and Bay's attempt to get Ramirez at home missed the cutoff man and dribbled into the infield.

In previous games, Bay lost one ball in the sun and allowed another to get past him and roll to the wall.

"It's Florida," manager John Russell said. "It's a different atmosphere down here, with the high sky and a lot of sun, things like that, especially early in the spring. It's not a concern. I've seen Jason make a lot of plays. I'm not concerned about that."

Starter Phil Dumatrait was out after the third inning, with a line of one run, four hits and two walks. His stuff looked impressive at times, based on some ugly swings and misses, but he also gave up solid contact and labored in throwing 55 pitches.

Boston Sox moved ahead, 2-1, in the fourth off Bryan Bullington on Argenis Diaz's RBI single. Bullington's two innings included two hits, a walk and a 1-2-3 fifth.

The Red Sox scored twice off Dave Davidson in the sixth to make it 4-1.

The Pirates' final runs came on an eighth-inning RBI single by Kevin Thompson - now 7 for 13 this spring while vying for a bench spot - and a Steve Pearce home run in the ninth. It was his team-leading second of the spring.

The Pirates are 1-5 in Grapefruit League play.

Tomorrow, Ian Snell will make a three-inning start against the Detroit Tigers' Yorman Bazardo, 1:05 p.m. in Bradenton, Fla. Sean Burnett, Marino Salas, Hector Carrasco, Josh Sharpless, Masumi Kuwata and Matt Capps will follow.

Outfielder Nate McLouth (hamstring) is expected to play, too.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.