The Red Sox might have had a three-run lead when Evan Longoria stepped to the plate with two outs in the eighth inning, but that still didn’t offer any sense of security when having to stare down the Rays’ third baseman.

Not only had Longoria proved to be the difference-maker Wednesday night thanks to an eighth-inning, three-run homer, but he also has been on a historic run against Red Sox pitching this season. Heading into his final at-bat of what would turn into a 6-3 Sox win, Thursday night at Tropicana Field, Longoria had 27 RBI against the Sox, the second-most of any Red Sox’ opponent since 1954.

In 15 games against the Sox, Longoria is hitting .371 with eight homers and an .871 slugging percentage, and after two more hits Thursday night, he carries a six-game hit streak against the Red Sox in which he has gone 11-for-26, with four multi-hit games.

Simply put, regardless of the score, there is a discomfort for Red Sox pitchers when they face Longoria, especially in a ballgame’s waning innings.

This time it was reliever Daniel Bard who was charged with the task of retiring Longoria. The rookie’s experiences with the Tampa Bay slugger hadn’t been pleasant, having surrendered more than a few hits when the two met in the Cape Cod League, and a first-pitch home run in the eighth inning of the Red Sox’ Aug. 4 game against the Rays.

“He’s had my number,” Bard siad. “I’ve only faced him once at this level, but I’ve faced him five times at the Cape League and he’s hit me pretty well. And it’s always been fastballs. He’s always hit my fastball.”

But this time Bard had a trick up his sleeve.

Since Longoria had seen just one major league pitch from Bard — albeit a fastball which he deposited in the Tropicana Field bleachers — the reliever knew that the righty hitter hadn’t gotten a load of the reliever’s newly-revamped slider, which had become increasingly effective thanks to a subtle change in the gripping of the pitch.

After showcasing a fastball that went as high as 100 mph in facing his inning’s three previous Rays’ hitters, Bard came back with three straight sliders. The final offering induced the kind of awkward swing not seen from Longoria against any Red Sox pitcher this season.

“I kind of wanted to go fastball in to start but Victor [Martinez] gave me the slider, it sounded good so I went with it. He didn’t look really comfortable so I stuck with it,” Bard said. “He hadn’t even seen a slider from me, so that bat does a lot because now he knows I have it he can’t sit on that first-pitch fastball now that I went back to back to back. It kind of sets up for the next time I face him.

“He probably thought, ‘There’s no way he’s going to throw me three sliders in a row’. The hits he got off of me they were always fastballs early in the count. Obviously he was sitting on it and wasn’t acknowledging any other pitch, but I kind of forced him to today.”