ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — They weren't just swept, which happened here back in April, too. No, the Red Sox were outplayed and outclassed over the last three nights.

Last night, in the final night of three-game humiliation at the hands of the mighty Tampa Bay Rays, they saved their worst for last. Beyond Dustin Pedroia, who nearly became the first Red Sox player in a dozen years to hit for the cycle, it was hard to find a bright spot. There can be little doubt about the low point, however.

That would be the bullpen, which took a three-run lead and frittered it away in a 54-pitch horror show masquerading as the bottom of the seventh. It was then that the Rays scored six times against four different relievers, helping themselves to a 7-6 victory.

"They took it to us," manager Terry Francona said. "They beat us three in a row. We came here to win and we didn't do a very good job.'"

"They played better," said Pedroia. "They pitched better, hit better and hit better in the clutch."

The defeat was the Sox' fifth straight — all on the road — and served to drop them 3½ games behind the rampaging Rays in the A.L. East.

The quartet of Manny Delcarmen, Craig Hansen, David Aardsma and Javier Lopez combined to allow four hits, three walks and six runs in the seventh as the Rays sent 10 men to the plate. The tandem of Delcarmen and Hansen sent the inning on its quick spiral. Together, they faced six hitters and recorded no outs. All six of the hitters who reached against them eventually came around to score.

Aardsma and Lopez weren't as bad, but then, that isn't saying much.

"When you see me out on field that much (to make pitching changes)," Francona said, "something's not going right. We had the lead decently late in the game but things unraveled because of our inability to make pitches and throw strikes. When things start going wrong, you just can't get to the end of the line."

And yet, for all the ugliness, the Sox were threatening to win in the ninth. B.J. Upton made a terrific running catch on the warning track of a Kevin Youkilis drive, but it was deep enough to score Manny Ramirez, who had reached on an error and had gone to third on a single to right from Mike Lowell. But in a fitting finish to the game and the series, Lowell, representing the tying run, was thrown out trying to steal second as part of a botched hit-and-run. Jason Varitek couldn't make contact on the pitch, capping one of the worst stretches of his career. Varitek struck out for the third time in four at-bats and is 3-for-48 (.063) over his last 15 games.

"Put this one on my shoulders," Varitek said. "(Executing the hit-and-run) is something I do well, and Tito knows it. But I didn't do the job."

"I felt good about (putting the play on)," Francona said. "I know it's critical, but I thought it was going to work."

Beyond Pedroia, the offense deserved its share of the blame, too. While Boston hitters knocked out 10 hits, they also stranded 10, making it the second time in the last four games that they reached double figures in that dubious category. It also didn't help that Julio Lugo, in a careless base-running miscue, cost the Sox a run in the fourth.

Lugo, a little too aggressively, took out shortstop Jason Bartlett at second in an attempt to break up a potential inning-ending double play. Jacoby Ellsbury beat the throw to first as Varitek crossed the plate with a run that would have increased the Sox' lead at the time to 3-1. But second-base umpire Sam Holbrook called the out at first because of interference on Lugo's part.

"It's hard," said Francona, "to take a run off the board."

The Sox had survived a shaky start from Daisuke Matsuzaka to take a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Pedroia was very nearly a one-man offense for the Red Sox. He homered in the first, tripled and scored on a groundout in the third, and doubled in the fifth before scoring on Drew's triple. Drew then scored on a wild pitch. Pedroia later knocked in another run with another double in the eighth, making him the first Red Sox player in five years to collect four extra-base hits in a single game. Varitek was the last to do so, on July 4, 2003, against the Yankees. He also became the first Red Sox second baseman in history to get four extra-base hits in a game.

"I hit the ball well," said Pedroia, "but I'd much rather win."

Matsuzaka, bidding for his 10th win, was all over the place in the first few innings, issuing walks to four of the first eight hitters he faced and falling behind to virtually every hitter. Incredibly, despite his poor command, he allowed only one run even as he struggled.

After the second, as if by magic, Matsuzaka righted himself. When he got Upton to line out to end the second, it began a stretch that saw him retire the next nine hitters in succession and 10 of the final 11. He allowed only two hits — none after the second inning — but because of his high pitch count (101), he was through after five. Worse, that meant asking the bullpen to shoulder a four-inning load.