Tampa Bay bullpen slips again at Boston

BOSTON — The Tampa Bay Rays have done a good job keeping games close and putting them in the hands of their relievers.

But it hasn’t worked out too well from there.

Sunday they lost, again, to the Red Sox, this time 7-5.

It was another game they were in until near the end.

And another game that the bullpen lost.

The Red Sox scored the decisive runs in the seventh, which started with the Rays leading 5-4. But Danny Farquhar, working his second inning, loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, then struggling lefty Xavier Cedeno came on and gave up a two-run single to lefty Mitch Moreland.

The Rays had a chance in the eighth when Kevin Kiermaier led off with a single off Matt Barnes and stole second, but Evan Longoria (0-for-4 on a DH day) and Brad Miller struck out and, after Logan Morrison walked, Corey Dickerson popped out.

The loss dropped the Rays to 6-7, with the final game of the road trip today;s 11:05 a.m. Patriots’ Day game in Boston.

The Rays gave Alex Cobb an Easter present, scoring three in the first off Boston starter Drew Pomeranz. They opened with walks by Steven Souza Jr. and Kiermaier then converted on a one-out triple by Miller, who then scored on a passed ball.

But Cobb gave up two in his first, the victim of some not particularly hard-hit but well-placed — especially against the Rays’ shift — balls by the Red Sox. A check-swing double by lefty Andrew Benintendi down the left field line, a blooper behind first by righty Mookie Betts, a single by Hanley Ramirez and a ground ball between shortstop Tim Beckham and second baseman Miller produced the two runs.

Dickerson made manager Kevin Cash look smart for putting him in the lineup ahead of Peter Bourjos against the lefty Pomeranz when he homered to center in the fourth, making it 4-2.

But Cobb gave up the lead in the bottom of the inning when he allowed a double to Xander Bogaerts then a homer to Pablo Sandoval. “It was a weird one,” Cobb said. “Some situations that I put myself into or things didn’t go your way happened.”

The Rays went back ahead when Beckham led off the fifth by launching a Pomeranz pitch to center for his first homer of the season.

But that lasted only until the seventh.

Cobb battled to get the Rays through five innings, allowing four runs on 11 hits — though several the victim of what former manager Joe Maddon used to refer to as “bad geometry” in beating the shift — and not striking out any. (He had only three swing-and-misses, all on curveballs, among his 93 pitches.)

“It was a little bit of a frustrating loss,” Cash said. “We had a few opportunities, but were unable to hold the lead.”

Farquhar got the Rays quickly through a 1-2-3 sixth, and with the bullpen shorthanded Cash asked for a second inning out of him. That didn’t go as well, as Farquhar loaded the bases with one out on two singles (one an infield squibber) then a walk.