BOSTON -- The Red Sox soon will be headed for Toronto and the start of their longest trip of the season, one that takes them to Canada and then the West Coast for a total of 10 games in three cities.

As a parting gift Wednesday night, they lost the rubber game of a three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-3, to finish a dismal homestand, winning just three of nine games and losing four of the last five.

What is the opposite of timely hitting? How about just four hits in 45 at-bats with runners in scoring position since last Friday, a span of six games in which the Red Sox have scored a total of 15 runs.

Their failure to deliver when most needed was most evident in the ninth, which began with an infield single by Xander Bogaerts, who took second on a wild pitch. But rookie catcher Blake Swihart fouled out, and after Mookie Betts walked, Dustin Pedroia whiffed and .067-hitting Luis Jimenez, who had entered the game an inning earlier as a pinch runner for David Ortiz, was thrown out on a squibber in front of the plate.

It was no better in the eighth, when Daniel Nava and Brock Holt grounded out to first with the bases loaded.

Manage along with him: The decision to lift Ortiz for Jimenez backfired on manager John Farrell, especially since Jimenez was thrown out at the plate on a force play.

Farrell also made the decision to have Nava hit for Allen Craig, even though before the game he said he was going to give Craig a chance “to run with it” as replacement for the injured Hanley Ramirez. Nava is hitless in his last 18 at-bats.

Longballs for Longoria: Rays slugger Evan Longoria began the night with one home run in 92 at-bats. He added two to that total Wednesday night, the first coming off starter Justin Masterson to lead off the fourth, the second off reliever Alexi Ogando in the eighth.

No master of this house: Masterson walked six, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch in 4 2/3 innings. How he survived until the fifth was a mystery, since he also gave up seven hits, but somehow held the Rays to a couple of runs until Joey Butler flared a two-run single to break a 2-2 tie and signal Masterson’s departure.

Mookie power: Betts hit his third home run in two nights in the eighth. His last six hits all have been for extra bases.