Kyle Weiland was cruising right along having retired the first seven batters of the game and that’s when things unraveled. The big play in the inning involved a shattered bat and a ground ball to Marco Scutaro that could have put Weiland back to the dugout without a scratch.

Instead the chunk of B.J. Upton‘s bat — and the ball — got to Scutaro at the same time and the shortstop pulled up avoiding contact withe the bat shard and allowing it to go into left field, scoring a run and prolonging the inning. That set the stage for Evan Longoria who crushed a three-run home run into the Red Sox bullpen.

The damage done, the Sox dropped the opener, 9-2, in this crucial four-game series and saw their lead in the wild card race sliced to three games. The Rays have now won six straight against Boston and hold a 10-5 lead in the season series. In those 15 games, Tampa starters have compiled a 2.58 ERA.

It would have been asking a lot of Weiland in just his fourth career start to keep the Sox in a game on a night when they were once again shutdown by Tampa’s pitchers. The task falls to Josh Beckett, who makes his return to the mound on Friday against James Shields in what is shaping up as the most important game of the season.

Here’s what else went wrong on a wasted night for the Sox:

WHAT WENT WRONG

- After the Rays out four runs on the board in the top of the third, the bottom of the inning had all the makings of a big response after Jarrod Saltalamacchia (walk) and Scutaro (single) reached base to open the inning. Dustin Pedroia then drew a one-out walk to load the bases but Adrian Gonzalez grounded out, and after an intentional walk to David Ortiz loaded the bases again, Kevin Youkilis grounded out to third. The Sox got only one run out of the frame and let Tampa starter Jeremy Hellickson off the hook.

Hellickson threw 74 pitches through the first three innings but needed only eight to get through the fourth. He set down the side again in the fifth and while he only gave up one run on three hits, he also walked four and struggled to command the zone. The Sox had their chances.

- Jacoby Ellsbury‘s hitting streak ended at 18 games, one game shy of matching his season high. Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez and Youkilis were a combined 0-for-13 with four strikeouts.

- Weiland was undone by bad luck, but he also put himself in a bad position by losing control of the strike zone. Working almost exclusively off his fastball, Weiland was a strike-throwing machine before the third inning, but when he started working behind in the count, the Rays pounced.

- The Sox defense didn’t do Weiland any favors. In addition to the Scutaro play, Pedroia committed an error in the fourth on what could have been a double-play ball. That was the end of the night for Weiland.

- Franklin Morales surrendered a two-run laser shot to Casey Kotchman in the sixth. For Kotchman, it was just his second home run against left-handed pitching this season and only the eighth of his career.

- Presented without comment, Matt Albers‘  numbers in his last dozen appearances: 10 2/3 innings, 22 hits, 20 runs, 10 walks and four home runs. He lasted only a third of an inning, giving up two walks and a home run to Upton.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

- On the flipside of the defensive miscues, Gonzalez saved a run with a fine play on what appeared to be a safety squeeze by John Jaso. Gonzalez got Johnny Damon at the plate with an underhand toss to Saltalamacchia.

- Lefty Trever Miller had a perfect Sox debut, getting out an inherited jam in the fourth by retiring three straight batters (all left-handed) with two runners already on base.

- Making his first appearance in a week, Andrew Miller recorded four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

- Jose Iglesias recorded his Major League hit with a two-out single in the ninth.