In the end, the Red Sox will have something to play for on the final day of the season after all.

The Red Sox lost their penultimate game 7-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, dropping them to 80-81 with one game to play. The Red Sox and Rays now go into the final day tied in the standings, so Sunday’s winner will determine which club finishes third in the AL East, which finishes an even .500 and which winds up with a losing record.

It may not be as significant as a spot in the playoffs, but those are the cards Boston’s been dealt.

From the Red Sox perspective, Saturday was about as “blah” as it gets. The lineup could only muster two runs on five hits against the Rays pitching staff, and Kutter Crawford endured a rocky finish to what has otherwise been a successful season.

Crawford battled through a slog of a first inning, needing 27 pitches to make it through what ultimately wound up being a scoreless frame. He walked two and saw a man reach on an error, loading the bases with one out, but was able to escape after forcing a fly out and striking out Josh Lowe to end the inning.

He followed that with a quick and efficient 1-2-3 second on just six pitches, but that was about as smooth as it got the rest of the way.

Triston Casas gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an opposite field solo shot to the Green Monster, his 13th of the season in just 62 games. But Junior Caminero had an answer in the third, clearing the wall with a two-run homer to Lansdowne Street that made it 2-1.

It was the 34th home run allowed by Crawford this season, the most in MLB.

Crawford would benefit from an 8-3 double play in the fourth after Josh Lowe misread a fly ball and was easily thrown out by Jarren Duran at first. That gave Duran his 12th outfield assist of the season, breaking a tie for the most in the majors. Unfortunately Crawford ran out of gas and allowed four straight singles in the fifth, the latter two driving in runs courtesy of Caminero and Jonathan Aranda.

By that point Alex Cora had seen enough, lifting Crawford for right-hander Greg Weissert. Both of Crawford’s remaining inherited runners came around to score on a two-run single by Josh Lowe, making it 6-1 Tampa Bay and giving Crawford a final line of six runs on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts over 4.1 innings.

Crawford finishes the season 9-16 with a 4.36 ERA over a career-high 183.2 innings.

The Red Sox finally got some offense against Rays starter Shane Baz in the sixth when Jarren Duran was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a Trevor Story single and scored on a wild pitch. That also moved Story into scoring position, but rookie Mickey Gasper, still looking for his first career MLB hit, struck out to end the inning.

Baz finished with two runs allowed over six innings on three hits, a walk and two hit by pitches with seven strikeouts.

Tampa Bay extended its lead with an RBI single by Christopher Morel in the top of the seventh, and the Red Sox never seriously threatened the rest of the way. Boston collectively managed two hits over three innings against Rays relievers Kevin Kelly and Drew Rasmussen, with Tyler O’Neill breaking an 0 for 26 streak with a single to lead off the bottom of the ninth before the Red Sox went quietly to end the game.

Now, just one game remains. First pitch for the finale is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.