Moss's effort is irreplaceable

Brandon Moss's reward for his first homer - high fives all around. (Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

TOKYO - His name came over the public-address system. And so, Brandon Moss ran onto the field, following the rest of the reserves to his place on the first base line. He noticed something odd, though; someone was motioning for him to come back.

So he jogged back into the dugout. Moments later, his name was called again, and again he headed onto the field. This time as a starter.

"I was like, 'I don't know what to do,' " he said. "They called my name already. If they called J.D. Drew and I went out in his name, people are going to get confused."

It was safe to say that by the end of the Red Sox' 6-5, 10-inning victory over Oakland yesterday, few people were giving a thought to Drew.

That can happen when a last-minute sub (Drew was scratched minutes before the first pitch with tightness in his back) goes 2 for 5, including a game-tying home run in the ninth.

"He had made me look really bad on the changeup before," said Moss, referring to Athletics closer Huston Street. "I think it was a 1-and-1 pitch. He threw me a changeup; I was way out in front.

"Once I got it back to 2-and-2, I was like, 'He's probably going to throw that changeup right here because I missed it two pitches ago.' I just tried to see it up and wait back on it a little bit longer."

Moss slammed the changeup just over the wall in right field. He didn't see it, but there might just be a chance that the home run, his first in the majors, makes a highlight reel or two. (Good thing that will be the image shown around the world. The rookie would much rather publicize his home run than his epic struggle to get a stuck button-down shirt over his head after the game while the media waited for an interview.)

At the start of the day, he didn't have an inkling he would play.

"I didn't have any time to even be nervous," said Moss, who also had a two-out, game-tying single in the sixth. "I found out like two minutes before.

"I didn't even have time, then once I got out into right field, I was like, 'Holy crap. I'm starting in the opening game. This is pretty cool.' "

It ended that way, too, with Moss becoming just the third Red Sox player to hit his first career homer in a season opener, and the first since 1945, according to David Vincent of SABR. With Moss doing so against Street, one of the few Oakland players with cachet, it wasn't a bad start to the season, no matter where he ends up - especially for a player who was only told definitively that he was going to Japan the day before the trip.

"Manny's probably going to go down as the player of the game," said Kevin Youkilis, referring to Ramírez's four RBIs, including two on a double in the 10th. "But I think Brandon Moss, doing what he did, I put him as the player of the game. Going out there at a moment's notice and playing a game's not easy. It shows how mentally tough he is, how he's a great player.

Player of the game or not - that honor, and the million-yen check, did go to Ramírez - the rookie managed to make a statement. It still doesn't mean that, come the Red Sox series in Oakland next week, Moss will remain with the major league club. The Red Sox want him to work on his skills at first base, making him more versatile and more valuable, and the best place to do that is Pawtucket.

"You've got to look at the team around you," Moss said. "It's a team of All-Stars.

"To be realistic with yourself, you've got to go home and look yourself in the mirror. If I went home and looked myself in the mirror and said I should be playing, that's a lie. You've got J.D. Drew in right, Coco [Crisp] and Jacoby [Ellsbury] in center, Manny in left. I mean, what are you going to do?"

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.