Cole Figueroa #35 of the Tampa Bay Rays (C) is congratulated by teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field on May 23, 2014 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

After being swept on their previous six-game homestand, the Boston Red Sox were hoping for better things on their five-game sojourn. They were also looking to avoid being in last place in the AL East as they battled the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend.

Well, after last night’s 1-0 walk-off loss to the Rays, the Red Sox now find themselves percentage points behind those same Rays for last place in the AL East.

Just last fall, these two teams were playing each other for the right to go to the AL Championship. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

John Lackey was outstanding on the hill for the Red Sox. He scattered five hits and a walk over seven plus innings of work. Andrew Miller took the loss after the runner he left for Burke Badenhop scored on the Cole Figueroa walk-off hit.

Offensively, it seemed like all the Red Sox did was strikeout.

Rays starter Chris Archer struck out 11 in six innings of work. He got Xander Bogaerts three times while getting Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski twice.

PC/MOBILE/TABLET Link (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Tampa Times and Tampa Tribune websites.

photo credit: getty images