ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Xander Bogaerts said Saturday that the Red Sox “need to win” Sunday.

They didn’t live up to the task though, as the Rays swept Boston after beating them by a score of 3-2 Sunday night, on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Brandon Lowe put the Rays on the board first, as Lowe lifted a payoff delivery from into the right field seats to put Tampa Bay up 2-0 in the third. Hunter Renfroe would put the Sox on the board in the fourth, as he socked a line drive over the center field wall for a solo blast.

The Rays added to their lead with an RBI single from Manuel Margot in the fifth, as Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta lasted just 4 2/3 despite allowing just three hits. Josh Taylor finished the fifth, before newly acquired Hansel Robles would toss a clean sixth in his first outing for Boston.

Alex Verdugo scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to make it 3-2.

Garrett Whitlock tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth for the Sox, and Boston would rally in the ninth with back-to-back two-out hits from Kike Hernandez and Rafael Devers. But Matt Wisler retired the slumping J.D. Martinez on a popout to end the ballgame.

(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

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