Hours before his team played the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, Red Sox manager John Farrell said Clay Buchholz was his latest choice to pitch in the eighth inning.

Farrell detailed how he had used Buchholz in lopsided games in the eighth inning twice in recent days to prepare him for his new role.

“I want Clay to feel like that’s his place in this bullpen right now,’’ Farrell said. “You want guys to grab the opportunity and run with it.’’

Soon, Farrell predicted, Buchholz would pitch in tighter spots.

Sure enough, Buchholz came out of the bullpen in the eighth inning with the score tied. And, sure enough, the Sox still haven’t found somebody they can trust with the eighth inning.

Buchholz allowed a long homer by Evan Longoria as the Rays beat the Sox, 4-3. The Sox have lost five of seven and are 2-3 on a homestand that ends Wednesday afternoon. A nine-game road trip starts Friday.

Toronto lost, so the Sox remain only two games out of first place. But they’re only a game up on third-place Baltimore.

“You can say this was a frustrating one,’’ shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.

On Monday, Buchholz threw 29 pitches, facing six batters. But Farrell said there was no issue bringing him back a day later. Buchholz (5-10) confirmed that, saying he felt fine pitching for the third time in four days.

“Good. I felt good,’’ he said. “I thought I might come in a little bit sore today but my body felt good.’’

There also weren’t many other choices at that point with Brad Ziegler having been sent home with the flu. Outside of closer Craig Kimbrel, who was being saved for the ninth inning, Buchholz was the best reliever available.

Counting three starts, his ERA was 3.10 since July 21. But the righthander missed with a one-out fastball to Longoria and the ball sailed over everything in left-center.

“It’s tough when he hits the ball a long way. He didn’t miss it,’’ Buchholz said. “You can’t let one of their big sticks beat you and I did.’’

Longoria is 20 of 60 against the Sox this season with six doubles, five home runs, and 12 RBIs in 15 games. His eighth-inning home run off Rick Porcello last Wednesday tied the score and the Rays went on to win, 4-3, in 11 innings.

The last-place Rays have beaten the Red Sox three times in their last four games.

The season could soon be lost unless the Red Sox identify a relief pitcher capable of handling the eighth inning. With 30 games left to play, it’s a critical job that remains unfilled.

Koji Uehara had the responsibility out of spring training, pitched unevenly, and went on the disabled list in July. Carson Smith, obtained to get big outs late in games, had season-ending elbow surgery in May.

Junichi Tazawa and Matt Barnes were tried and couldn’t handle it. Ziegler wants the job, but Farrell doesn’t trust his sidearm offerings against lefthanded hitters.

Buchholz surely will get another chance and he’s not afraid of the job.

“It’s a different role, or a different title, but you still have to go out there and make pitches,’’ he said.

Ziegler should recover in a day or two and Uehara looks ready to return next week. At this point, it just has to be somebody.

“We’ve had some change of roles, obviously. Tonight particularly with the absence of Brad,’’ Farrell said. “We’ve had some guys go through some streaks where they haven’t been as consistent. Trying to stay with a defined role has been a state of flux with the group that we have.’’

Since the All-Star break, the Sox are 9-14 in games decided by one or two runs. That falls largely on the bullpen.

“We’re putting ourselves in a position to close games out and yet we’ve found ourselves a pitch or two from finishing off the job,’’ Farrell said.

Down by a run, the Sox threatened in the ninth inning against Alex Colome.

Hanley Ramirez (3 for 4) singled with one out and advanced on a passed ball. Chris Young then walked with two outs to extend the game. But pinch hitter Sandy Leon took three called strikes. The sellout crowd of 37,083 groaned in unison.

Ramirez homered in the fifth inning and drove in a run with a pop-up single in the sixth. But Drew Pomeranz couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead.

The lefthander had pitched well to that point. He allowed a run in the first inning then threw five scoreless innings in a row, allowing one hit.

With two outs and a runner on first in the seventh, he got ahead of No. 9 hitter Luke Maile, 1 and 2.

Maile struck out swinging his first two times up. But when Pomeranz left a curveball over the plate, Maile drove it deep into seats above the wall in left-center for a tying home run.

Tampa Bay starter Jake Odorizzi came into the game with a 1.59 earned run average in his last eight starts. That included facing the Sox last Thursday and allowing one run over seven innings.

This time he gave up three runs on five hits over six innings.

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.