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Jose Iglesias keeps showing why he's such a hot commodity here in spring training -- and now he's doing it with his bat as well as his heralded glove. With the Sox trailing 3-2 to the Cardinals today, Iglesias hit a three-run homer over the left field fence to put his team ahead.

Iglesias said it was, so far, his favorite moment of his brief Red Sox career.

"It's a spring training game, but he felt very proud that he was a part of us winning the game. Very happy that it came out the way it came out," he said through translator Gil Velazquez.

Randor Bierd ultimately gave away the lead in the top of the ninth inning, but Josh Reddick whacked an RBI double -- his second big hit of the game -- to tie it up in the bottom of the ninth, and then scored when Che-Hsuan Lin drove him in with a game-winning single.

Reddick now has five hits, including three extra-base hits, in 13 spring training at-bats. He said he's trying to show his coaches that he's both patient and explosive.

"You always want to leave a good impression each time, whether it's your first year or your fifth year. I'm just trying to work more counts and see more pitches, as opposed to what I did last year at the end of the year, got all hurried up and swung at the end of the count," Reddick said.

Josh Beckett got the start and delivered as usual today, throwing three perfect innings in his third spring training start to keep the St. Louis Cardinals at bay here at City of Palms Park.

"I got the ball down well. I got some groundballs in the first inning and got my
legs under me in the second," Beckett said.

The Sox didn't allow a hit until Manny Delcarmen gave up a seventh inning home run.

Beckett struck out three, and said he felt like his timing was strong, particularly as he fhe works to use his changeup more. He used the change effectively to set down St. Louis cleanup hitter Colby Rasmus in his second inning of work.

The Red Sox took the lead in the second when J.D. Drew tripled and Bill Hall drove him home with a single to left. They added another run in the bottom of the fifth when Josh Reddick slammed a triple into the right-field gap, driving home David Ortiz.

Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez combined for six innings of hitless ball before Delcarmen gave up the first hit and run. Then Dustin Richardson gave up two more, though he was plagued by bad luck -- a potentially inning-ending grounder caromed off the second-base umpire to fall for a base hit, and another inning ending liner was almost caught in the outfield -- before coming out of the game with an injury.