The Rays’ Akinori Iwamura forces out the Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury at second base during the third inning of last night’s game at Tropicana Field.

AP / Steve Nesius

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. –– The good news? The two monster shots from David Ortiz in his first two at-bats, which, put together, traveled way over 800 feet.

And this: the Red Sox are through playing in Tropicana Field, where they were 1-8, for this season, unless they return next month, in which case they will have advanced to the ALCS.

That’s about it.

The rest, in the last regular-season meeting between the Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, was pretty forgettable, resulting in an ugly 10-3 defeat last night that dropped the Sox two games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East.

If the Sox are going to successfully defend their title as A.L. East champs, it’s now going to take some doing. Since the Rays won the season series between the teams, 10-8 –– the first tiebreaker if the teams were to finish with identical records –– the Rays, in effect, have a three-game lead in the division with just 10 games left for the Sox.

The night’s only other consolation came in the form of a loss by the Minnesota Twins, the Red Sox’ closest competitors for the wild card spot. Boston’s magic number is now four, meaning the Sox could conceivably clinch their fifth playoff spot in the last six seasons as soon as Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Rays lowered their magic number for clinching the division, thanks to the tie-breaker, to nine. The Sox’ last best shot at winning the East seems to have come and gone with two losses in three tries.

“We didn’t do a very good job here,” admitted Terry Francona. “They knocked us around pretty good.”

Asked if the team would now focus on wrapping up the wild- card spot and getting itself ready for the Division Series, Francona said such talk was premature.

“What we need to do is play good on Friday,” he said of the team’s next game, against Toronto. “If I start talking about what the rotation is going to be next week, it goes against everything we tell the players (about concentrating only on the next game).”

Tim Wakefield, just one start removed from perhaps his best outing of the season, was thumped by the Jays, yielding three homers in the span of four hitters, and chased from the mound before he could record a second out in the third inning.

The Sox were forced to trot out seven more relievers to get through the night.

It was the third start this season in which Wakefield failed to get out of the third inning and second in the last two weeks. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings in Texas on Sept. 6.

“He left a few up,” lamented Francona of the knuckleballer, “and they started whacking it around pretty good.”

“I didn’t make the right pitches at the right time,” said Wakefield, 9-11.

“He just left some balls up,” said catcher Kevin Cash. “He fell behind some hitters and had to throw his fastball (more than he would like). When he falls behind and the knuckler has good movement, he’s got to go to his other pitches. But I’m not concerned and I hope he isn’t. Tonight was just a matter of not being able to get ahead of hitters.”

Ortiz’s first of two belts came in the first with Jacoby Ellsbury on base and marked the second time this series that the slugger had given the Sox’ starting pitcher a lead before he took the mound.

But the good feeling was short-lived.

In a brutal third inning, the Red Sox went through four pitchers, two of whom committed errors, helping the Rays score three runs to put the game safely out of reach.

The Sox had one more chance to get back into the game in the fifth. With starter Matt Garza an out away from qualifying for the victory and in possession of an 8-3 lead, Rays manager Joe Maddon removed Garza, who had yielded two tape-measure homers to Ortiz in the DH’s first two plate appearances.

“David had swung the bat so well in those first two at-bats,” said Francona. “If he gets another one…”

Instead, hard-throwing reliever Grant Balfour kept Ortiz in the ballpark with a fly ball to the warning track in center. The Sox managed just one more hit –– a leadoff double from Kevin Youkilis –– as the Tampa bullpen extended its scoreless streak to 10 1/3 innings.

There went the game, and perhaps with it, the last best chance to finish first.

“I never noticed the difference between winning the division or the wild card,” countered Ortiz. “As long as you’re in, you’re in.”

smcadam@projo.com