ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A misplay in the infield went a long way in impacting the 11-3 beating the Red Sox absorbed from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Friday night, but another in the outfield likely will be talked about longer.

Alex Cora's critical two-out error on a chopper in the fifth inning opened the way for a four-run inning for the Angles. Cora failed to field a roller by Torii Hunter with runners at second and third, and before the Sox could recover, the Angels had turned a 4-3 edge into a comfortable 8-3 advantage.

Cora, who charged the ball, blamed himself for not attacking it more directly. Instead, he tried to glove the ball off to the side and had it kick off the heel of his glove. Hunter beat the throw to first and the Angels' big inning was underway.

"[Starter Clay Buchholz] was battling," said Cora, "and that play changed the whole game. If we get out of that inning down by a run or two, the way we were swinging the bats, who knows?"

"We couldn't get the last out," lamented Terry Francona, "and they spread it out on us and it turned into an ugly game."

Instead, the error sent the Sox spiraling into a downturn. The Angels added three more runs off the Boston bullpen an inning later and beat the Sox for the third straight time this season.

The defeat dropped Boston out of first place and into second in the A.L. East, a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to reclaim the top spot in the division.

Still, it was another defensive adventure by Manny Ramirez that will be remembered most.

With a runner on third and one out, Ramirez came charging in to try to snare a blooper by Maicer Izturis. The ball snaked past Ramirez, who, on his hands and knees, turned and went after the ball.

Somehow, Ramirez rolled onto the ball and had to reach underneath himself to grab the ball and throw it into the infield. By that time, Chone Figgins had scored from third and Izturis had legged out a triple.

"I just missed it," said Ramirez, who was shown laughing heartily after the play. "I got a bad jump."

Asked what he found comical, Ramirez said: "It was like I was swimming in a swamp [in attempting to retrieve the ball] . . . I think I made the bloopers for life."

"It looked like he rolled back over on top of it," said Francona. "That's the view I had. And one thing [the Angels] do -- when they hit it, they run and keep runnning and if it doesn't end up where it's supposed to, you've got trouble."

Buchholz lost his second straight start after rejoining the rotation and once again, it was a poor first inning that helped seal his fate. He needed 37 pitches to get through a three-run first when the Angels sent eight men to the plate.

In his last start, a week ago last night, he needed 29 pitches to get through the first as the Baltimore Orioles scored twice.

"I thought his stuff was a little flat [in the first inning]," said Francona. "I thought he held it together after that. [But in the first] you don't want to get behind [hitters] that much; that's tough duty."

Francona said he spoke with pitching coach John Farrell and suggested altering Buchholz' pregame routine some to help him get into the flow quicker.

Buchholz was unsure whether a change would help him, and blamed the poor inning on poor location.

"I thought I made a couple good pitches," he said. "But I fell behind, left some pitches up and walked [Hunter] and he came around to score. It seems like that's the story of the year for me -- if I walk a guy, it comes back to hurt me."

John Lackey improved to 7-2 and recorded his 10th quality start in 12 outings this season, but the Sox put some good swings against him. Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer down the line to left in the second and when Ramirez opened the fourth with a solo belt into the right field seats, the Sox had erased the first-inning deficit.

But the Angels re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, and with some help from the Red Sox defense, never looked back.