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 Eastleading Yankees. The Rays started play four games back of the Orioles - who were at Seattle later Monday night - for the second AL wild-card spot.
"We're going to have to find a way to bounce out of it," said Tampa Bay centre 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 offence. "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 dis-cussion 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."
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.
Rays slugger Evan Longoria was out of the starting lineup because of what Maddon called heavy legs. Maddon expects the third baseman to be back in the lineup today.
Cobb (9-9) allowed one baserunner a two-out walk in the second to Jarrod Saltalamacchia through five innings.
PHILLIES 3, METS 1
NEW YORK Cliff Lee struck out 10 while outduelling Cy Young contender R.A. Dickey, and Philadelphia regained its winning touch by beating New York.
Jimmy Rollins homered with the help of video replay and Domonic Brown also hit a solo shot off Dickey (18-6). The Phillies pulled within 3 1 /2 games of idle St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot.
