BOSTON -- J.D. Martinez was the home run king of baseball the last three seasons, bashing 124 of them in that span, seven more than any other player.

But when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning of Monday night's 8-7 loss to the Rays at Fenway Park, Martinez had gone his first 63 plate appearances of 2020 without a long ball.

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In the seventh pitch of that at-bat, he turned on a 2-2 cutter by Rays lefty Ryan Yarbrough for a moonshot that soared over everything in left field. Statcast projected the blast at 425 feet. And Martinez playfully raised his arms in triumph as he walked back to the dugout -- his team leading 4-1 at the time.

It was part of a 3-for-4 night from Martinez.

“His batting practice today was great,” said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. “I sat out there and watched it, and that’s the best I’ve seen him swing in a while. [Bench coach] Jerry Narron, who really knows him well from their days together in Arizona, said the same thing. He came in and said, ‘That’s the J.D. swing that I know,’ and it goes into the game and it shows up, so it was really good to see.”

Martinez had never come close to starting a season with 63 homerless plate appearances. His previous longest stretch? The first 42 plate appearances of the 2014 season, when Martinez had just joined the Tigers after being released by the Astros.

The Red Sox, their pitching spread thin, couldn’t get the win in the opener of a four-game series against the Rays. But if the payoff for the defeat is that it winds up being the start of a hot streak for Martinez, then it is worth it.

He can carry an offense when he’s in a groove. For the first 15 games of the season, Martinez searched and searched for his swing, with little to show for it. Now, he has something tangible he can take into Tuesday’s game.

“J.D. looked good today, so hopefully that’s a good sign of what’s going to happen here for the next two months or hopefully longer than that,” said Roenicke. “I think there were a lot of good things that happened in that game.”

Yes, aside from Martinez’s slump-busting performances, there were some other things to unpack from a game that lasted four hours and 24 minutes and required six Boston pitchers to throw 199 pitches.

Why not Moreland for Chavis?
In the bottom of the ninth, a one-out single by Martinez put the tying run on base.

With two outs, and Michael Chavis due up, it seemed like an ideal spot for Roenicke to send the red-hot Mitch Moreland (two homers on Sunday, including a walk-off) up as a pinch-hitter against Rays righty Andrew Kittredge.

Instead, Chavis struck out swinging to end the game. It turns out there was a good reason Moreland didn’t hit.

“Mitch wasn’t available tonight. He came in, his [left] knee was bugging him after that day game yesterday,” Roenicke said.

Rafael Devers, who didn’t start due to soreness in his left ankle, was also unavailable to pinch-hit.

Rule 5 Draft pick stands out Jonathan Araúz, the versatile infielder the Red Sox selected from the Astros in the Rule 5 Draft back in December, came into the night 0-for-9.

He left the ballpark with the first three hits of his career in his back pocket. The switch-hitter got the start at third base in place of the ailing Devers.

“I tell you, he continues to not act like he’s out of A-ball,” said Roenicke. “He’s calm. He’s good from both sides of the plate. Does a great job. Made a nice play defensively, so he’s doing a nice job.”

Araúz was robbed in the second when Kevin Kiermaier made a leaping catch in front of the wall in center field. But he came back with a single to center field in the fifth, a single off the Monster in the seventh and then a two-run single to center in the eighth that slimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-7.

“It felt great,” said Araúz. “Obviously my goal today was just to try to help the team win. Three hits is good to have, but wish we would have got the win instead.”

Where were leverage relievers?
In the top of the seventh, with the game tied at 5, Roenicke kept low-leverage long man Jeffrey Springs in there. The lefty had given up two hits, a walk and a run in the previous inning.

It seemed to be a situation where Roenicke would have called on Heath Hembree or Matt Barnes. However, it appears neither key righty was available.

Due to Boston’s lack of rotation depth, the key relievers have been used a lot of late.

Springs (1 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 3 ER, 51 pitches) gave up a two-run double in the seventh to Kiermaier to put the Red Sox in a 7-5 hole that they wouldn’t overcome.

“It was just because we were trying to stay away from two guys in our bullpen that we’ve been using a lot,” Roenicke said. “We needed [Springs] to go. It was a good matchup for him with all the lefthanders in the lineup, but we just can’t keep pitching the same guys all the time, every time we have a close game. That seems to be what we’re playing. It’s the case of staying away from some people, hoping that he can get through some innings for us, and confident enough that we think he can.”

With a 15.43 ERA in three appearances, Springs could be a prime candidate to be sent down to the alternate training site if the Red Sox want to replenish their pitching before Tuesday’s game.