In Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Rays, the Red Sox got back to hitting (solo) home runs, but continued failing to cash in. That, coupled with the kind of defensive miscues that cost them games in early April, and a less-than-smooth start from Tanner Houck, dug Boston a difficult hole

“At one point there, it was a very athletic group, and we were just pushing the envelope. Then we started hitting homers out of nowhere, and now we’re not hitting homers,” Alex Cora said on Tuesday. “So, we have to make sure to, whenever we get our shots, just to cash in, that’s the most important thing.”

“It was a bad night,” Cora added.

Boston out-hit Tampa Bay, but went 0-for-5 with men in scoring position and left six runners on base, including a fruitless bases-loaded situation in the fifth.

“We didn’t do much,” Cora said. “Started off well.”

The Red Sox entered the game 17-7 when scoring first, so the game got off to a promising start when Jarren Duran led off with a double and scored on Connor Wong’s one-out sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first.

But pitching with a slim lead did little to help Houck, who struck out seven but allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits, three walks, and a hit batsman in his 5.2 innings. After a 1-2-3 first, the right-hander didn’t record another clean inning, but he was able to escape damage until the fourth. A one-out walk, single, and error by first baseman Garrett Cooper made tied things up for the Rays.

“It was decent. Too many walks, too many counts I fell behind, led to higher pitch count, led to more traffic on the bases,” Houck said of his outing. “But all in all, went out there and grinded, left everything out there I could.”

“All in all, command wasn’t really there, but made the pitches whenever I had to, to get out of big innings, defense picked me up on some great plays as well,” he added.

Houck’s pitch count was already at 95 when he went back out to the mound for the sixth. He threw a career-high 112 pitches, a number he said he hadn’t come close to since college, when he did it “quite a few times.”

“Keep going, keep going, keep going until they come out there and take the ball from you,” he said. “I want to be out there as long as I can. I expect to go nine every game I’m out there.”

“It’s a pride thing. I want to be out there to go six, seven, eight, nine innings every game, Houck said. “Last year, I always got frustrated every time I could only go five at 100 pitches… I’ll take the ball for as long as they’ll let me keep going. I love being out there, I love going out there and competing.”

“You have to be smart about it,” Cora said. “I got a job here that is to win every game possible, but also I gotta make sure they stay healthy.”

Cora did, however, say that there’s “a good chance” Houck gets an additional day of rest before his next start. Garrett Whitlock, who dominated in his rehab start for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday morning, is poised to rejoin the team. With a packed slate of games and Cooper Criswell making such effective starts, the Red Sox are considering going with a six-man rotation for the time being.

“Pitched his butt off,” Cooper said of Houck. “Didn’t do him any favors with that play, you know? He pitched a great game, and I gave them a run, and that kind of was the deciding factor in the game when you look back at it.”

“Probably should’ve charged it more, it took a late hop and it hit something and it kind of bounced the other way,” the first baseman said. “Huge error, and I take full accountability for not charging. It’s just a play that I’d love to have back.”

Things went from bad to worse when Greg Weissert took over for Houck. Clinging to a 2-1 lead, he gave up a game-tying RBI single to Rays No. 9 hitter Jose Siri. With leadoff man Yandy Díaz batting, José Caballero attempted to steal third. Instead of an inning-ending out, Rafael Devers dropped the throw. Siri advanced to second, and instead of escaping the jam, Weissert had to continue pitching with two Rays men in scoring position.

Díaz seized the moment, walloping a 110.4 mph single to left to score both runners. All three runs were ruled unearned but the damage would prove irreparable; the Red Sox are 2-13 when they allow at least one unearned run.

“It sucks,” Weissert said. “Tanner battled his butt off today, and to come in that game and not to the job feels terrible.”

Wilyer Abreu had untied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a towering solo homer into the visitors’ bullpen, and Devers hit a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the sixth to bring Boston within one, but the Red Sox wouldn’t score again. They struck out 12 times, including Abreu striking out to leave the bases loaded in the fifth and a four-strikeout performance – known as a ‘Golden Sombrero’ – by Tyler O’Neill. His manager, however, disagreed with one of the calls.

“There was a bad pitch,” Cora said. “The 3-2 count in one of the at-bats, it was a ball. If I get in trouble, I get in trouble, but it wasn’t a strike.”

“We’ve gone through a rough stretch,” Cooper said. “Not the best with runners in scoring position.”

Cam Booser’s two perfect innings were a bright spot in the frustrating later innings. He struck out the side in the seventh and added a fourth strikeout in the eighth. Chase Anderson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, but the Red Sox, too went 1-2-3 to cement their loss.

Despite continuing to boast the best pitching staff in the Majors – which owns a 2.74 ERA, the best franchise’s best mark in Live-Ball Era – the Red Sox have lost eight of their last 12 games. Primarily because the offense has been held to three runs or fewer in nine of their last 13.

With a lineup like this, great pitching won’t matter for very long.