BOSTON -- The Rays were going to have to make some decisions about who was going to work their bullpen game on Monday regardless of the outcome of Sunday evening’s game. But now, making those plans is going to be a lot more difficult.

Tampa Bay used nine pitchers in its 6-4, extra-innings loss in Game 3 of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park on Sunday -- tied for the second-most number of pitchers a team has used in a single game in postseason history. That left just two arms unused heading into a do-or-die bullpen game on Monday night.

“I'm sure we'll have a lot of discussions into the night and into tomorrow,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his pitching plans.

How can the Rays force the series to go back to Tampa Bay on Wednesday? Let’s breakdown the state of the Rays' bullpen and what needs to happen in Game 4:

Who’s fresh?
The Rays still have two unused arms in Collin McHugh and Michael Wacha, and McHugh will be used as an opener. McHugh has experience as a starter and has pitched in the opener role before, and Wacha spent the majority of the season as a starter. McHugh was a logical fit as the opener, perhaps with Wacha in line to pitch a bulk of the innings if necessary, but it's more difficult to determine who will fill the remaining innings.

Cash explained after Sunday night’s loss that anyone who worked fewer than two innings could be available in the potential elimination game. That means if McHugh can keep the Rays in the game early on, Andrew Kittredge (who threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings Sunday) and Pete Fairbanks (who allowed one run on a solo homer in one frame) will be available to handle the higher-leverage innings later in the game.

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The other question will be whether Luis Patiño, who allowed the walk-off, two-run homer in Game 3, will be able to work back-to-back days if needed. Although he only threw 15 pitches across 1 1/3 innings in the loss, Patiño very little experience pitching in consecutive contests. Had he not been used on Sunday, he easily would've been in the conversation as an opener for the team in Game 4.

Who will be down?
The one arm most likely to be unavailable for Game 4 is David Robertson, who threw 40 pitches during two scoreless frames on Sunday. The 36-year-old righty also pitched a scoreless frame in each of the first two games of the series. If there’s another 13-inning marathon on Monday, maybe Tampa Bay would have to reconsider. But until then, it seems safe to assume the team will try to stay away from Robertson.

What needs to go right?

Well, a lot of things. But the biggest key will be the team relying on Wacha to eat up some innings. A starter by trade, the righty is designed to be able to fill this void the team desperately will need after its bullpen was just depleted. However, he isn’t coming into this contest with a tremendous amount of momentum on his side.

Despite having two strong starts against the Astros and the Yankees to end the regular season, Wacha’s first taste of the 2021 postseason resulted in six earned runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 relief innings during Friday night’s 14-6 loss in Game 2 at Tropicana Field. As a reliever in the regular season, Wacha allowed 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings (8.31 ERA) with seven homers.

Whether he starts or eats up a few of the middle innings in relief, the Rays will need to depend on Wacha in order to keep the hope of a Game 5 alive. And if he can at least get through Boston’s lineup one time without much damage, that will dramatically increase Tampa Bay’s chances of remaining in the postseason.

Can the starters come back?
When Cash was asked whether starters Shane McClanahan or Shane Baz would be available to pitch if needed, he simply said: “We're going to prioritize each individual pitcher, check on them, see how they're doing and then go from there.”

While McClanahan is the more likely option between the two given an extra day of rest, the Rays will still probably try to lean on their relievers. However, if the team is in a pinch -- or another extra-innings scenario presents itself -- Cash did not rule out turning to a starter for some help.

Is Wisler healthy?
It certainly looked like it. Although there was a question of whether Matt Wisler’s right middle finger would cause him to be replaced on the ALDS roster, he proved that it didn’t impact his latest performance during a dominant seven-pitch inning. However, if the finger would become re-inflamed early on Monday, the team would have to consider replacing him. If that’s the case, the Rays might look to someone like Louis Head, Nick Anderson or Dietrich Enns, who may be able to eat up more innings than the first two options.

For now, Tampa Bay will assume Wisler will be ready to go for Monday. And Cash’s focus until then will be piecing together one of the most challenging jigsaw puzzles in order to keep his team’s season afloat.

“We've got to win [Monday],” Cash said. “We don't really have many choices.”