TAMPA — The Rays couldn’t pick up on Tuesday where they left off.

That sizzling offense that posted 16 runs on Monday and had scored 34 over the last four games?

Held to four runs and seven hits by Walker Buehler and three relievers.

That four-game run of dazzling starting pitching, in which they allowed only two earned runs over 22 innings?

Ryan Pepiot gave up runs in each of the first four innings, six total, and had to battle just to get to the sixth inning.

The result was an obviously different outcome, a 7-4 loss that dropped the Rays back under .500 at 8-9 heading into Wednesday’s series finale.

“I don’t like talking negatively after we score (16) runs, but to expect it to come back out the next day is probably a little unrealistic and would be unfair to the guys,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

“But I was really pleased with the at-bats that we had going to start the game, and then Buehler made some big pitches.”

The Rays actually rallied in the ninth to make it that close, rapping three hits and scoring twice off reliever Zack Kelly.

Until that point they had only two runs and four hits, with Buehler, a former Dodgers teammate of Pepiot, handling the first five innings.

“First off, he’s difficult because he’s really good,” Rays rookie outfielder Jake Mangum said. “But he was on (Tuesday). I know my at-bats, he was painting in and off … he never gave me a pitch, really, to hit. I saw three different pitches that were all on the black of the plate. Tip your cap to nights like that.”

Worse, of course, was playing from behind, which was a product of Pepiot’s rough night against an aggressive Sox lineup led by former Astros star Alex Bregman, who went 5-for-5 with two homers.

“They came out swinging out of the gates,” Pepiot said. “Going into it, kind of the approach was they had some guys that were a little bit passive, and you could open up the entirety of the zone early. And they kind of just came out swinging on every single fastball.

“It felt like they were on everything. Hitting the ball the other way, hitting balls hard, homers — just felt like everything that they hit just missed our guys.”

Or, in other words he used later: “It sucks. You never want to have those days.”

Pepiot eventually made some adjustments, throwing inside more to make the Sox uncomfortable, and retired his last eight batters to get through the sixth, though the Rays were down 6-2.

The six earned runs and nine hits matched his career high, and about the only good he took from the outing was that he managed to limit the damage and get through six innings.

“I battled my butt off,” Pepiot said. “I think just a sign of growth for me. Last year, I feel like that game would have been 2 1/3, three innings max, and it would have put the bullpen and team in a tough spot.”

Cash had a similar view: “I really give Pep a lot of credit for being able to control it enough to where getting us through six — I did not see that happening after two innings of work.“

In that 16-1 win Monday, it seemed that everything went the Rays’ way. On Tuesday, it seemed little did.

Down 6-1 in the fourth, they loaded the bases with one out on a Junior Caminero walk, a single by Jonathan Aranda (who also homered and raised his majors-leading average to .413) and a Christopher Morel walk.

Kameron Misner’s fly-out to left got them one run, and they looked to have a chance for at least another when Mangum lined a ball to shallow center, but Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela raced in to make a diving catch.

“Off the bat, I thought it was going to get down,” Mangum said. “He made a great play.”

The Rays had two on to start the fifth, but Buehler got Yandy Diaz to ground out, struck out Brandon Lowe on a close 3-2 pitch and Caminero to ground out.

“When he needed to make a pitch, he certainly did,” Cash said. “The B-Lowe pitch right there, just caught the edge on a changeup — and that’s not even a pitch that he frequently throws that much, but I know that he worked on it in spring training and added a little bit more.

“But he’s a pretty big-time pitcher with a lot of experience pitching in situations where that one pitch matters, and (Tuesday) he made them.”

And in the seventh, Misner looked like he was going to rob Bregman of his second homer with a leaping catch at the wall in right-center, but said the ball was knocked loose from contact with a fan — which was ruled to not be interference since it occurred beyond the outfield wall.

“I thought I made a good play on it,” Misner said. “I felt like I caught it, kind of right when the ball bottomed out in the glove, kind of felt like it got hit, kind of vibrated the ball loose.

“You do all the work to get there it’s one of those, you want to bring it back. It is what it is. I wish I could have done it just to save the home run. I felt like I did what I needed to do, I just didn’t come down with it.”

Misner said he had no issue with the fan trying to catch the ball in his hat, and understands it’s part of the game. But, he said, “I wish I could put some pine tar in my glove.”

There were a lot of things the Rays wished happened differently Tuesday.

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