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Red Sox overcome bullpen meltdown for 8-6 victory over Rays

Coming into the game 4-0 with a 2.82 ERA over his past seven starts and with a 201/3-inning scoreless streak against the Red Sox, Smyly left after just five innings, having allowed five runs on seven hits.

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“This is what happens down toward the end of the year”, Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.

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The Red Sox failed to capitalize on Toronto’s 5-3 loss to Baltimore.

Evan Longoria did it to the Boston Red Sox again Tuesday night.

Boston’s Hanley Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, driving in a run when his pop fly couldn’t be handled among three Rays players. But pitch No. 101 became a two-run homer by Luke Maile. “That’s what I set out to do”, he said.

The shot made a victor of reliever Enny Romero (2-0), who worked a flawless seventh with two strikeouts. Alex Colome survived a hit and a passed ball in the ninth while picking up his 29th save.

Ramirez fell to 7-10 with the loss.

Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead behind a two-run homer by Logan Forsythe and a solo shot by Logan Morrison, but they couldn’t hold it. Henley Ramirez hit a grand slam in the fifth to give Boston its first lead. Gee (6-7) allowed four hits and a run in the latest impressive start by the Royals’ staff, helping the reigning World Series champions win for the 18th time in 22 games. Smyly comes off a 5-4 defeat at Houston with three runs given up (two earned) over six innings. His last pitch was a curveball he said he meant to bounce, but left high in the zone for Maile. “I have pretty good control with it”, Pomeranz said. “It was fair to say that the first inning or two. he was trying to establish a release point after some down time”, manager John Farrell said before Tuesday night’s game. He gave up a single to Beckham in the sixth, but got Corey Dickerson to hit into a double play to erase it.

The last time that the Red Sox were in the playoffs was in 2013, when their postseason run ended with a parade celebrating the third World Series title since the turn of the century.

LHP Drew Pomeranz, who suffered a tough loss to the Rays and Jake Odorizzi in St. Petersburg last week, faced the same team and same pitcher Tuesday night. Before Monday, the Rays had at least one player on the DL every game since beating Minnesota 12-5 on July 6, 2011 – a string of 853 consecutive games.

Red Sox: Off Thursday, at Oakland on Friday with David Price (13-9) against Andrew Triggs (1-1). Manager John Farrell it will take about a week to construct the custom brace that will allow the rookie to increase the intensity of his rehab workouts.

But the Rays came back against the suspect Boston bullpen, loading the bases off Fernado Abad on an infield single and two walks then getting even when Forsythe greeted Junichi Tazawa with a two-run single.

Andriese is 0-6 with a 5.47 ERA in his last 14 appearances, seven of them starts.

Martin Perez (9-10) pitched six shutout innings.

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It’s August 31st, and not only are the Red Sox just two games out of first place in the east, but they’re one game up on the second wild card spot, and two on the nearest challenger.

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports