The Tampa Bay Rays capitalized on a lucky break and rode one homer and three RBIs apiece from Evan Longoria, Casey Kotchman and B.J. Upton to a 9-2 rout of the host Boston Red Sox in the opener of a four-game series Thursday night.

Jeremy Hellickson (13-10) allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings as the Rays beat the Red Sox for the sixth straight time and whittled Boston's lead in the AL wild-card race to three games.

Upton's bat splintered on what appeared to be an inning-ending ground ball in the third, forcing shortstop Marco Scutaro to jump out of the way of the bat and allowing a run to score.

Longoria followed with a three-run blast to right-center off starter Kyle Weiland (0-2) to make it 4-0 and start the reeling Red Sox on their way to a seventh loss in eight games.

Tampa Bay piled on from there as Kotchman added a two-run homer in the sixth and Upton clubbed a two-run shot in the seventh to make it 8-1.

Weiland, making his fourth career start, lasted only three innings and has allowed 16 runs in 17 innings.