Red Sox swept by Rays as July slide continues

BOSTON -- June was a great month for the Boston Red Sox. A really great month.

July, however, has been anything but. And it's only getting worse.

At least the All-Star break is just a few days away. Unfortunately, the Red Sox have to play three against the best team in baseball before they get there.

And they are not heading into the Bronx on a high note. The lowest of low notes, actually. The Red Sox are limping to New York after suffering a four-game sweep at the hands of the Rays in St. Petersburg. It's the first time Boston has even suffered a four-game sweep at Tropicana Field since the Rays came into existence in 1998.

The Red Sox had a chance to steal the final game of their series Thursday night, but once again suffered a late-game collapse. Kutter Crawford had given Boston the best start of his career, shutting the Rays down for six innings. The Red Sox took a 3-0 lead into the seventh.

Alex Cora saw that Crawford was dealing and sent him back out for the seventh. Then it all fell apart.

Crawford faced three batters in the seventh and didn't record an out. Jonathan Aranda led off with a ground-rule double, and Christian Bethancourt followed with a single up the middle. Aranda scored when Josh Lowe roped an RBI double, ending Crawford's evening.

John Schreiber came in with two men in scoring position and no outs. He's been one of the best bullpen arms in baseball this season, so there was some optimism when the righty took the hill.

But the downward spiral continued for the Red Sox. After Schreiber got Taylor Walls in an 0-2 hole, the Rays shortstop tied the game with a two-run single to shallow left. Schreiber then slipped on the mound and plunked Luke Raley on the foot. After Brett Phillips put down a sacrifice bunt to give Tampa a pair of runners in scoring position, Yandy Diaz sent them both home with a high-chopper over Jeter Downs, who was playing in to try to prevent runs. That obviously did not work.

Those are the breaks of the game, and unfortunately for the Red Sox, they have not been breaking in their favor lately. Most of Boston's issues this month have been self-inflicted, but in baseball, when it rains it pours. The Red Sox are struck in a downpour at the moment.

Boston's ninth-inning rally came up short, and they left St. Pete with a 5-4 defeat. A win Thursday wouldn't have won the series, but it would have given the Sox at least a little momentum heading into their series with New York.

Instead, the Red Sox fell to 2-8 against the Rays and 11-24 against the AL East. They've yet to win a series against a divisional foe this season. That doesn't bode well, considering 41 of their 72 remaining games are against AL East opponents.

The Red Sox are now 4-10 in July, but manager Alex Cora is trying to look at the bright side of life. He eviscerated his team after a 4-1 loss on Wednesday night, but saw some better fundamental baseball on Thursday night.

"We'll be OK," said the skipper. "We played some good baseball today; we put up good at-bats, we battled. I know we lost, but compared to yesterday and the last few days, tonight was a better effort. We played some clean baseball, we made pitches. Obviously, one bad inning, but overall it was a better effort than yesterday."

If only that effort was enough to get a win. The Red Sox are now sitting at 47-43, tied for third in the AL East -- and for the final AL Wild Card spot -- with the Blue Jays. They're both 2.5 games behind the Rays, and just 1.5 games ahead of the surging Baltimore Orioles. 

Now the Red Sox have to finish off the unofficial first half with a three-game set against the 62-27 Yankees in the Bronx. The two teams split a weekend series at Fenway Park last weekend, which looked like it could spark a really good week for Boston ahead of the break.

Instead, things went from bad to worse over a four-day stretch in St. Petersburg. The All-Star break can't get here soon enough for the Boston Red Sox.