Still, Rays of hope

The Rays are the ones chasing this season, and they remained in pursuit of the wild card with their 8-5 victory over the Red Sox. The Rays stayed in the wild-card picture, five games back instead of seven, believing they can still reach the postseason instead of sensing the end.

By scoring three runs off of the Sox’ bullpen in the eighth inning, the Rays did more than win a game. They allowed themselves to hold on to the hope that they will return to the playoffs.

“It’s something where mentally, you know it’s definitely within reach still,’’ Rays reliever J.P. Howell said. “You don’t think seven is. You need something very magical at that point.

“You look at your options. Right now, you don’t need to hope for going 25-6 or whatever. We’re at the point now where we can just keep playing very good baseball, and we’ll be in.’’

The Rays stormed to their first playoff appearance last season by front-running, building a lead in the American League East and holding on to it. This year, an early-season hangover made them the hunters from the season’s first month.

For four-fifths of this season, the Rays have actually outplayed the Sox. Since April 30, the Rays own the third-best record in the American League, one game better than the Red Sox and trailing only the Yankees and Angels. But they began the season 8-14, and they are still paying for it.

“We put ourselves in that situation,’’ said Pat Burrell, who blasted a solo home run for the go-ahead run last night. “You can’t be surprised by anything. We have to go for it every time we step on this field. We’ve got a lot of ground to make up. We might need a little help. But hopefully we won’t.’’

After they sputtered at the start, the Rays settled into their roles as a club clawing up the standings. They learned the difference between holding off a team and trying to catch one.

“You can’t afford to lose any games,’’ outfielder Carl Crawford said. “You’re playing with more of a sense of urgency when you’re chasing.’’

Never more than tonight. Rays manager Joe Maddon stressed the importance of winning series, and they may not play a more pivotal one than this one. If David Price can outpitch Clay Buchholz, the Rays will have sliced their deficit to four games, a difficult but manageable hole to climb out of with 30 games remaining.

“[The Red Sox are] not panicking, really,’’ said Howell, last night’s winning pitcher. “But we get within two or three, and it will really set their heart beating a little bit. Just put some pressure on them, so other teams come in and they’re playing a little tighter than they want to play.’’

The Rays could thank an unlikely hero last night. They acquired Burrell this offseason as a missing piece, a righthanded power hitter to augment their designated hitter role. Instead, he has served as an offensive albatross for much of the season. He entered last night batting .239 with 12 home runs.

Burrell stood on deck to begin the eighth inning, immediately after the Rays’ bullpen had allowed the Red Sox to tie the score on three walks and Howell’s 54-foot wild pitch.

“There’s no room to be [upset],’’ Burrell said. “There’s too much game left.’’

Carlos Pena led off with a double, and Burrell dug in. He had already homered off of Josh Beckett. Trying simply to move Pena to third, he lined a single into right-center, and Pena scored the winning run.

Evan Longoria provided the insurance with a monstrous home run off Manny Delcarmen, an anticlimax the audience surely saw coming. Longoria is batting .362 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs in 14 games against the Red Sox this season.

His blast last night ensured the Rays could come to Tropicana Field still in the race, not only to play Game No. 133, but with a chance.

“We’re going to be here,’’ Maddon said. “7:08 tomorrow. See what happens.’’