Boston — Clay Buchholz was roughed up early again.

The bigger concern for the Boston Red Sox is how hard Hanley Ramirez banged into a wall.

Ramirez, the club’s most productive hitter so far, ran into a side wall trying to catch a fly ball in the first inning and had to leave the game with a sprained left shoulder in Boston’s 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

“Based on the exams and the images tonight, I don’t have anything that suggests that there’s a reoccurrence of an old injury,” Boston manager John Farrell said.

“I think over the coming days we’ll have a better read on how he can recover, and we’re hopeful that he won’t miss significant time.”

Ramirez missed the final two months of 2011 after spraining his shoulder when he was with the Marlins.

He leads the club with 10 homers and 22 RBIs.

After Ramirez left the game, Buchholz allowed four runs and five hits in the first two innings.

“Bad breaks count for two of them,” he said. “Left the changeup up, the kid hit it. Other than that, I felt like I threw the ball pretty good.”

Buchholz (1-4) gave up five runs in 6 1-3 innings, raising his ERA to 6.03.

He didn’t make it out of the third inning in his previous start, allowing five runs — four earned — in a loss last Tuesday.

Jake Odorizzi pitched seven strong innings, Joey Butler hit his first career homer and the Rays’ offense perked up a bit.

David DeJesus drove in a pair of runs for Tampa Bay, which scored just four runs in a three-game set this past weekend against Baltimore.

The Rays have been held to two or fewer runs in nearly half of their games.

Odorizzi (3-2) gave up one run, seven hits and struck out six. He matched a Rays’ club record by not allowing a homer for the sixth straight start.

“I thought my last inning is when I felt the best all night,” he said.

Xander Bogaerts had an RBI triple for the Red Sox, who have lost a season-high four straight and nine of 12.

The Rays jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two runs in each of the first two innings.

James Loney was credited with a double when his slicing fly ball down the line was originally caught by Ramirez, but the ball popped out as he hit the wall. Evan Longoria followed with an RBI double and DeJesus had an RBI single.

In the second inning, Butler hit a two-run homer into the Green Monster seats.

Boston cut it to 4-1 in the second on consecutive triples by Brock Holt and Bogaerts.

Climbing the charts

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia got his 1,400th hit, tying Mike Greenwell for 11th on the club’s career list.

Trainer’s room

Rays: LHP Jake McGee, who had offseason elbow surgery, is expected to make his third rehab appearance at Triple-A Durham on today. ... RF Steven Souza Jr. was hit by a pitch on the right forearm, but stayed in the game.

Red Sox: Farrell said RF Shane Victorino, on the 15-day DL with a strained right hamstring, took BP and did “more intense running.” The plan is still to have him start a rehab stint in Double-A Portland on Friday.

Up next

Rays: LHP Drew Smyly (0-0, 3.38 ERA) is slated to start the middle game of the three-game series on today. He’s 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA in nine starts since joining the club.

Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (2-2, 5.34 ERA) looks to follow up his best start in a Red Sox uniform. He gave up two hits and one run over seven innings to earn a victory against Toronto on Friday.