BOSTON — There was a point in June when Julio Lugo not only wasn’t getting any hits, but he wasn’t even having good at-bats.

Lugo, though, has turned things around offensively, and yesterday he staged a quality at-bat that put the Red Sox in a great position to at least pull even with the Devil Rays. That Boston squandered its chance and fell to Tampa Bay, 6-5, was not Lugo’s fault.

The Sox’ shortstop followed Coco Crisp’s first-pitch bunt single in the ninth by battling Tampa Bay closer Al Reyes. The Rays’ right-hander threw every pitch he had in his repertoire, but he couldn’t make Lugo swing and miss.

Lugo fouled off six pitches after Reyes had two strikes on him. And finally Lugo found a pitch he could drive, lashing a double to left-center that delivered Crisp from first, making it a 6-5 game.

“The more pitches you see helps you know what his ball is doing,” said Lugo, who had fouled out against Reyes in a six-pitch at-bat Tuesday.

“He threw some good pitches. I was fortunate enough to foul some off. I got a fastball down and was able to put a good swing on it,” he said.

To bunt or not to bunt

Okay, so Lugo was perched on second base with none out and the Sox down by a run.

Dustin Pedroia was at the plate. The situation screamed bunt, right? Move Lugo over to third with one out and then parade Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz to the plate with Manny Ramirez next in line.

Pedroia attempted to bunt on the first pitch, but didn’t get his bat far enough out in front of him and fouled the pitch back.

He stepped out of the box and looked down at third-base coach DeMarlo Hale. The bunt was taken off. Pedroia took a pitch for a ball, fouled one off and then swung through and missed a high fastball in his attempt to hit the ball to the right side and at least move over Lugo that way.

Lugo never made it to third base. Youkilis also struck out and after Ortiz walked, Ramirez also fanned, ending the game.

“Pedroia’s at-bat was the most important,” said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. “If he moves the runner, the runner is on third and everything in the world changes. You’ve got to pull your infield in, [it changes] the kind of pitch you can make and it’s a much more stressful moment on the pitcher at that juncture.”

Was Pedroia surprised they took the bunt off?

“No,” said Pedroia. “We had three chances to drive in a run.”

Lugo wasn’t surprised, either.

“We’ve got good hitters coming up there. If anybody gets a hit I’m going to score. The bunt could be the play but we’ve got three guys who can hit and speed at second, so why waste [an out]?” said Lugo.

The reason for taking off the bunt play, said bench coach Brad Mills, had a lot to do with the Rays’ defensive alignment.

“They were crashing in real tight,” said Mills of the Rays’ wheel play, which had first baseman Carlos Pena and third baseman Akinori Iwamura moving in for a bunt as shortstop Ben Zobrist raced to cover third.

“[When they do that], it opens up holes all over the field [for Pedroia to hit one through],” he said. “And anytime either Pedroia and Youkilis strike out, we’re surprised. To have them do it back to back [is a bigger upset].”

Pedroia, the third-toughest batter to strike out in the American League, now has fanned only 31 times in 409 plate appearances. Youkilis has whiffed 70 times in 489 at-bats.

Rays pitchers improving

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are hardly breathing down the necks of the Red Sox or the Yankees in the American League East. Or down the necks of the Blue Jays or Orioles, for that matter.

But the only way to turn themselves into more than a doormat is through pitching, and if the three-game series they just had at Fenway Park is any indication, Tampa Bay may have a solid young starting nucleus.

Over the three games, the Rays’ starters threw a combined 18 2/3 innings, allowing only three runs on 13 hits. They totaled 16 strikeouts and only 5 walks.

Left-hander Scott Kazmir, a veteran ace at the still tender age of 23, is no surprise. He blanked Boston in his six-inning stint on Tuesday night. In the opener, right-hander James Shields surrendered one run on five hits in six innings.

And yesterday rookie right-hander Andy Sonnanstine shut out Boston for 6 2/3 innings before being charged with three runs, hardly looking like the pitcher whose statistics entering the game were a 1-8 record and a 6.35 earned-run average.

Advice helps Iwamura

The Rays’ Akinori Iwamura was in a slump, 0-for-15 heading into yesterday’s game, including a feeble at-bat in which he flicked a shallow fly ball to left field with runners at second and third and one out and Tampa Bay ahead, 1-0, in the eighth. The run didn’t score and the Rays eventually lost, 2-1.

So before yesterday’s game, hitting coach Steve Henderson summoned Iwamura and his translator into Maddon’s office for a chat.

Whatever they talked about seemed to work wonders. Iwamura, the Rays’ leadoff batter, slammed the second pitch of the game for a single to right. He also led off the third with a single.

Steal strategy fails to work

After a leadoff single by Brendan Harris, the count went to 3 and 1 on Jonny Gomes.

So Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon sent Harris on the next pitch, obviously figuring if it was a ball, Harris would get second base, or if the pitch were a strike, Gomes would be hacking at it and by sending the runner it would keep the Devil Rays out of a double play.

The pitch from Daisuke Matsuzaka was a fastball down the middle. Gomes inexplicably took it, leaving Harris hung out to dry. He was thrown out by plenty by catcher Jason Varitek.

Lowell slid to the right side

Mike Lowell is not very fast. But he knows how to slide.

In the second inning, Lowell cracked a ball high off the wall in left-center. He rounded first and headed for second, able to see Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton bare-hand the ball off the wall and make a throw to second. The throw was to the shortstop side of the bag, so Lowell slid in to the right-field side of the bag and was safe with a double.

skrasner@projo.com