The slide the Red Sox have been on since coming back from the All-Star break finally brought them below .500 with Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss to the Rays while further dimming their postseason hopes.

Now at 75-76, Boston sits under .500 for the first time since June 11. With 11 games left in the season, the Sox are five games behind the Twins for the final American League Wild Card spot.

Each time a new series starts, Boston hopes it will be the one to start a surge of wins that has been elusive for months, but as manager Alex Cora noted after Sunday’s loss to the Yankees, time is running out.

Tuesday night started in promising fashion, as Triston Casas hit his first home run since Aug. 25, mashing a two-run shot to right that snapped a scoreless tie in the second inning.

Nick Pivetta, who was strong early, gave up a solo homer to Junior Caminero in the fourth, before Josh Lowe and Jose Siri took him deep in the fifth.

A pinch-hit homer by Romy Gonzalez brought the game within two in the eighth, but a bases-clearing double by Siri that just snuck under the glove of a diving Tyler O’Neill served as the final blow.