Yesterday's 3-0 loss to the Rays constituted a lost weekend for the Boston Red Sox.
They've now lost five in a row and are percentage points behind both Baltimore and Tampa Bay for first place in the new-look AL East. The Rays (14-11) have won six straight.
Boston (15-12) wasted a great outing from Josh Beckett (2-2), who pitched seven innings, giving up four hits, two runs (1 earned), one walk and 13 strikeouts.
On the other side, James Shields (3-1) was just a little better. He pitched a complete game on 99 pitches: allowing two hits and striking out seven.
In the third, Jason Bartlett reached base on a Beckett error then came around to score when J.D. Drew relayed his throw from RF into the ground.
Tampa Bay doubled the lead when rookie sensation Evan Longoria hit a solo homer in the seventh.
The final straw was when Carl Crawford hit an RBI double off Manny Delcarmen to put the Rays up 3-0 in the eighth. The slumping Sox weren't likely to come back from down 2-0 but 3-0 was more than enough to clinch it.
David Ortiz was out again and Mike Lowell finished up his rehab with Pawtucket. With Sean Casey on the DL, the Sox have run into some injury problems early in the season. There's no need to panic since they'll be fine (shortly) but it is not fun watching your team lose five in a row.
After the off-day today, Toronto comes to Fenway tomorrow for three games.
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