"The runs kept coming Saturday as the Tampa Bay Rays offense picked up where it left off after Friday's win against the Red Sox.

This time it was three in the first inning, and with James Shields pitching, well, the Rays liked their chances of making it two straight against the American League East leaders.

"We were feeling great going into the second inning," right fielder Matt Joyce said. "Put up three runs with Shields on the mound, we're like, 'You know what? We got this. Just throw up some more runs, hold them down and we'll be fine.' It just didn't go our way. Shoot, they're a good team."

Turns out Shields wasn't fine, and neither were the Rays.

The Red Sox had the lead by the third inning and won the second of this three-game series 9-5 in front of 32,487 fans, the second-largest crowd this season at Tropicana Field.

"These guys did a great job of getting it 3-0 right out of the gates, and my job is to shut them down," Shields said. "I didn't do my job."

Boston's comeback began with a two-run homer by Josh Reddick in the second inning and ended in the third on a two-run double by David Ortiz. J.D. Drew followed with an RBI double and the Red Sox had a 5-3 lead that would soon be 6-3 when Jacoby Ellsbury homered to start the fourth.

The loss dropped the Rays to six games back of the Red Sox and 4½ behind the second-place Yankees.

Any momentum the Rays gained with Friday's 9-6 win was, at best, put on hold until these teams meet tonight in the finale, televised nationally on ESPN.

"It is disappointing," Shields said. "The way our team came out (Friday night) and hit the ball, the way we played, we grinded out that win. I got to do a better job myself of coming back and pitching a good game. (Saturday) wasn't a good game for me. I was kind of out of my element for what I was doing all season long. I got to do a better job of that.""