They've managed to make some early improvements in that category in 2011, going 7-4 in such situations. However, that momentum has been thwarted time and time again when the next series starts, providing the same sort of impact on the club's fruitless pursuit of a lengthy winning streak.
Boston is now 3-9 in series openers after a 7-6 loss in 10 innings on Tuesday in the first of two straight in Toronto. The setback prevented the Red Sox from reaching .500. They are 0-4 this year when given that opportunity and the latest failure offered up a frustrating summation of what remains a very up-and-down ballclub.
The Sox got two home runs from Adrian Gonzalez, one a two-run shot to give them a lead in the middle innings and the other in the top of the ninth to forge a tie. They ripped 16 hits overall. However, 12 men were left on base, one was picked off, one thrown out at home and the pitching was poor.
Jon Lester gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He walked a season-high five, gave up two home runs of his own and left the mound trailing 5-4. Although the lead went back and forth multiple times, Lester set the tone with a miserable first inning in which he walked three, gave up one hit and immediately spotted the Blue Jays three runs.
"You have these starts and I've got to do a better job of minimizing the damage, and I didn't do a good job of that," Lester said.
Those who came behind him didn't fare much better, aside from Rich Hill. After Hill got four outs in relief of Lester, Alfredo Aceves loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh. He escaped, the Red Sox tied it in the top of the eighth, and then Daniel Bard served up the first major league home run to David Cooper in the bottom half to give Toronto a one-run lead once again.
"We'd come back and they'd come back," manager Terry Francona said. "They kept hitting those solo homers right when we looked like we might jump ahead. Just one of those games you play on the road, they get an extra at-bat and you lose."
That losing rally came in the 10th, and again offered up a difficult-to-swallow set of circumstances. With one out, Rajai Davis singled off Matt Albers on a 58-hopper up the middle. Davis, the fastest player on the Toronto team, stole second, on a pitchout no less, and then swiped third when it appeared as if Albers and shortstop Jose Iglesias didn't pay him enough attention. That allowed him to easily score the game-winner on Cooper's fly to center.
It was the third time in a span of five innings that the Jays snapped a tie, this time for good.
"Once [Davis steals third], you've got to play the infield in, you've got to play the outfield shallow," Francona added. "It turns the whole game around to where maybe a harmless fly turns into a game-winner."
That's what happened, keeping the Red Sox in pursuit of momentum that seems to elude them each time they reach a new phase of the schedule.
Wednesday gives Boston another chance to end a series on a good note. Looming on the calendar is a series-opener in New York on Friday, which would be a good time for the Red Sox to end their somewhat awkward early pattern.
