ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays made a statement to the American League heading into the All-Star break: Don’t count us out of the playoff race.

Brad Miller hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning and the Rays took three of the four from AL East-leading Boston, beating the Red Sox 5-3 Sunday.

Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts bobbles the exchange after forcing out Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria during the Rays' 5-3 win Sunday in St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press/Mike Carlson

“That felt good,” Miller said. “That was a lot fun.”

Miller connected with two outs off Joe Kelly (3-1), sending a drive over the center-field wall. Kelly had made a career-best 23 straight scoreless appearances.

“Wow!” Rays Manager Kevin Cash said. “What a way to go into the break. That’s pretty exciting, man.”

Brad Boxberger (1-0) worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the eighth before Alex Colome got three outs for his 25th save.

Tampa Bay, at 47-43, has 13 more wins than last year at the All-Star break and trails the Red Sox by 3 1/2 games.

Boston completed a 10-game road trip at 6-4.

“Losing three against these guys kind of stung a little bit, but hopefully we can come out in the second half and have the same attitude of winning every day and winning series,” Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.

Dustin Pedroia hit his second homer in three days and fourth of the year in the seventh inning off AL All-Star Chris Archer, a two-run shot that put Boston up 3-2. It was the fourth time this season that an opponent hit a go-ahead homer against Archer in the sixth or seventh inning.

Mookie Betts homered on Archer’s third pitch of the game to set a Red Sox record with his 11th career leadoff homer.

Tampa Bay tied it at 3 in the seventh on Corey Dickerson’s sacrifice fly.

Archer, who gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, and one-time Rays ace David Price both had effective starts.

Price allowed two runs and five hits over six innings. He entered with a 19 1/3-inning scoreless streak against his former team.

“I still don’t think we’ve played our best baseball yet,” Price said. “I think everybody in this clubhouse understands that.

Steven Souza Jr. hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and scored on Evan Longoria’s single.

Longoria got his 53rd RBI, his most at the All-Star break since 2013, on a third-inning sacrifice fly.

Boston had two on in both the third and fourth but failed to score. Souza made a full-extension diving catch in the fourth on Christian Vazquez’s right-field foul drive.

“Once I closed in on it, I thought I had a legit chance,” Souza said.

Hanley Ramirez, who failed to tag up at second on Souza’s catch, was doubled up at first in the sixth after Dickerson made a leaping catch at the left-field wall on fly ball by Jackie Bradley Jr.

TRAINER’S ROOM

RED SOX: Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (right knee) allowed one run over 61/3 innings in a rehab appearance at Triple-A Pawtucket and is scheduled to start against Toronto on July 17. … Infielder Brock Holt (vertigo) is nearing a return but will remain with Pawtucket this week.

RAYS: Shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria was out of the lineup because of a groin injury but entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth.

UP NEXT

RED SOX: Betts, left-hander Chris Sale and right-hander Craig Kimbrel are headed to Tuesday night’s All-Star Game in Miami.

RAYS: Dickerson will join Archer at the All-Star Game. Manager Kevin Cash will be the AL bench coach.

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