The Tampa Bay Rays will need another stirring rally if they want to return to postseason, and might have just the opportunity to get one started during a promising part of their schedule.
The Rays will play nine straight against sub-.500 clubs beginning with Monday night's visit from the Boston Red Sox.
Tampa Bay pulled to within 1 1/2 games of the AL East lead Sept. 4 after a fourth straight win, but is now five games behind New York after dropping seven of 10. The Rays (78-68) also trail Baltimore by four games for the AL's second wild-card spot.
They went 1-5 on a road trip against the Orioles and Yankees, and gave up five runs in the third inning of a 6-4 defeat Sunday to New York. Tampa Bay, which had five hits in that loss, is batting .218 over its last 10 games and .172 with runners in scoring position.
"It seems like we're pressing now," third baseman Evan Longoria said.
Tampa Bay will play six of its next nine games against Boston (66-81) and the other three versus Toronto. The Rays travel to Fenway Park for two games Sept. 25-26.
Tampa Bay rallied from nine games back and beat out the Red Sox for the lone wild card spot last year, but manager Joe Maddon isn't necessarily expecting another miracle.
"The math isn't in our favor," he said. "The baseball gods have created two wild cards, so let's see what happens."
The Rays will likely need a more consistent performance against the Red Sox to get things going. They're just 5-7 this season against their AL East rivals after winning 23 of 36 meetings over the previous two campaigns.
Alex Cobb (9-8, 4.26 ERA) will try to deliver a win in this matchup while going deeper in this game. The right-hander has given up two runs in each of his last two starts but lasted only 4 2-3 innings in a 3-2 loss in Baltimore on Wednesday.
Cobb is 5-0 with a 3.31 ERA in eight starts since the beginning of August, but he hasn't faced Boston since May 25. He gave up two runs, three hits and four walks over five innings of that 7-4 win at Fenway.
The Red Sox have dropped 14 of 18 and 10 of 13 on the road, but won their first two games in Toronto this weekend before falling 5-0 in Sunday's finale. They were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position in that defeat, which put them one shy of the franchise's first losing season since 1997.
"We fired a lot of blanks with men on base today," manager Bobby Valentine said.
Aaron Cook (3-10, 5.18) is hoping a better performance from his teammates will help him end a five-game losing streak.
He was dealt the latest of those defeats Wednesday against the Yankees. The right-hander gave up three runs over five innings but was given only one run of support in a 5-4 loss.
Cook has received a combined two runs over his last three outings.
Cook will face Tampa Bay for the first time since June 17, 2009. He's 1-1 with a 6.63 ERA in three all-time matchups.
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AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPS
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Mike Aviles | 3 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Brandon Allen | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .667 | .667 | .000 |
| Burke Badenhop | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Jeff Keppinger | 12 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .077 | .077 | .000 |
| Evan Longoria | 4 | .500 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .500 | 1.750 | 1.250 |
| Carlos Pena | 5 | .400 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1.700 | 1.200 |
| David Price | 3 | .333 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .666 | .333 |
| Luke Scott | 3 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| B.J. Upton | 4 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Ben Zobrist | 3 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
 Boston Red Sox |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| September 07, 2012 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | Day-to-Day | Left game - back spasms |
| September 02, 2012 | Jacoby Ellsbury | Day-to-Day | Sore right wrist |
| August 25, 2012 | Daniel Nava | 15-Day DL | Sprained left wrist |
| August 25, 2012 | David Ortiz | 15-Day DL | Aggravated right Achilles strain |
| August 25, 2012 | Daniel Nava | 15-Day DL | Sprained left wrist |
| August 24, 2012 | Franklin Morales | 60-Day DL | Left shoulder fatigue |
 Tampa Bay Rays |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| September 11, 2012 | Ryan Roberts | Day-to-Day | Left game - strained left forearm |
| September 08, 2012 | Desmond Jennings | Day-to-Day | Lower back stiffness |
| September 07, 2012 | David Price | Day-to-Day | Left shoulder soreness |
| August 31, 2012 | Sean Rodriguez | 15-Day DL | Fractured right hand |
| August 31, 2012 | Sean Rodriguez | 15-Day DL | Fractured right hand |
| August 28, 2012 | Matt Joyce | Day-to-Day | Left game - strained left forearm |
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Rays are slipping out of playoff contention and tempers are getting a little short.
Jacoby Ellsbury homered and drove in three runs, Aaron Cook stopped his five-game losing streak and the Boston Red Sox beat the sliding Rays 5-2 on Monday night.
Tampa Bay, coming off a 1-5 road trip to Baltimore and New York, fell 5 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Yankees. The Rays also dropped five games back of the Orioles, who won 10-4 in Seattle, for the second AL wild-card spot.
"We're going to have to find a way to bounce out of it," said Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton, who had three of the team's six hits.
The Rays have scored just 21 runs over the last seven games.
"This has been ongoing. ... This is a seasonal misadventure," manager Joe Maddon said of his club's struggling offense. "We've been able to remain solvent because our pitching has been so good."
Tampa Bay leads the AL with a 3.27 ERA. The last five AL teams to finish a season with an ERA as low as the Rays' current figure all advanced to the World Series.
Rays starting pitcher Alex Cobb and catcher Jose Molina got into a heated discussion in the dugout after the top of the sixth when Boston took a 2-1 advantage. There was a wild pitch and passed ball during the inning.
"We're both really into that game, and we needed to win that game," Cobb said. "I honestly don't really know what the argument was about, still. We'll work things out. We'll talk about it tomorrow, or whatever, and leave it behind us."
Molina declined to comment as he was leaving the clubhouse.
"I'm not unhappy," Maddon said. "That's overblown sometimes. That can actually be a good thing. It's fine right now. We discussed everything. It's all good."
Ellsbury hit a two-run homer in the sixth and added an RBI single during a three-run seventh for the Red Sox, who were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday. Cook (4-10) allowed one run and five hits over six innings in his first win since Aug. 6.
Rays slugger Evan Longoria was out of the starting lineup because of what Maddon called heavy legs. Maddon expects the third baseman, who missed 85 games earlier this season due to a partially torn left hamstring, to be back in the lineup Tuesday.
Cobb (9-9) allowed one baserunner - a two-out walk in the second to Jarrod Saltalamacchia - through five innings. The right-hander made a nice defensive play to end the second, grabbing a hard grounder by Ryan Lavarnway and throwing the catcher out at first.
Jose Iglesias was hit by Cobb's pitch with one out in the sixth and scored on Boston's first hit of the game, a two-out, two-run homer by Ellsbury that put the Red Sox ahead 2-1.
"For five innings it looked like we didn't have any gas in our tank, and then Iggy ignited us a little bit," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. "And Ells took a lot of time in between pitches and hit a 3-1 pitch, and he gave us the lead."
Cobb was pulled after James Loney singled and Saltalamacchia walked to start the seventh. Boston loaded the bases with no outs when Lavarnway reached against Burke Badenhop after shortstop Ben Zobrist misplayed a grounder for an error.
After pinch-hitter Mauro Gomez hit a two-run single off J.P. Howell, Ellsbury made it 5-1 with a run-scoring single against the Tampa Bay left-hander.
"We played really well tonight, and it's nice to shake hands after a game," Cook said.
Boston is 14-30 since Aug. 1.
Cobb, who had won five consecutive decisions, gave up four runs and two hits in six-plus innings.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Luke Scott scored from third on Ryan Roberts ' sacrifice bunt. Zobrist had an RBI grounder in the ninth.
NOTES: The announced attendance was just 11,722. ... Ellsbury has seven RBIs over his last nine games. ... Tampa Bay OF Sam Fuld , who left Sunday's game with a strained right hamstring, is expected to be out several more days.
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Boston Red Sox