ST. PETERSBURG -- A late-inning comeback victory is going to happen for the Red Sox at some point. It has to, right?
You had the feeling it just might on Tuesday night. In the top of the eighth inning at Tropicana Field, Marcelo Mayer had the fortune of hitting a two-run double off the first-base bag that trimmed a three-run deficit to one.
Jarren Duran moved Mayer -- the potential tying run -- to third with one out. But two groundouts later, one off the bat of Ceddanne Rafaela and the other from Wilyer Abreu, Boston was left with an all-too-familiar feeling. An attempted comeback fell short in a 4-3 defeat to the Rays that dropped Boston’s record to 1-32 when trailing after seven innings and 0-35 when down after eight.
The offensive resurgence that marked the final couple of weeks of May has disappeared through the early part of June, and the Red Sox are not only back in a funk, but they are 11 games under .500 (27-38) for the first time this season.
The road had recently been a place of fortune for the Red Sox, but they are 1-3 heading into Wednesday afternoon’s finale of this five-game road trip.
The journey to face the two American League East heavyweights (Yankees and Rays) started auspiciously, with the Sox pulling off a 5-3 win in the Bronx on Friday night.
Starting with a rainout on Saturday, Boston’s momentum has completely stalled, as interim manager Chad Tracy’s squad has scored an aggregate five runs over the last three games.
In this one, the Sox had arguably their best starter this season on the mound in rookie lefty Payton Tolle.
But for one of the rare times in his nine starts in 2026, Tolle labored. Over six innings, Tolle gave up season-highs in hits (nine) and earned runs (four) while inducing just seven swings and misses.