When you don't have a lot of talent, you can use a little luck.
For now, the Red Sox don't have enough of either.
Through five games, they're 2-3, but it can't be forgotten that the Sox are a botched fly ball by the Baltimore Orioles away from sitting at 1-4. Had not Ryan McKenna fumbled a routine flyout Saturday, the Sox would have gone down 1-2-3 in the home half of the ninth and lost that one, too. When McKenna opened the door for the Sox, Adam Duvall kicked it in, slamming a two-run, walk-off homer.
Ever since that gift, the Sox haven't done much to help themselves. On Monday, a catchable ball fell between Rafael Devers and Kiké Hernandez and in the same inning, a ball clipped the oversized bag at first base and resulted in a gift hit for the Pirates.
On neither occasion did Kutter Crawford bail out his teammates and the Pirates ended up with a three-run first.
It was more of the same Tuesday, too. Nick Pivetta was seemingly out of the second in 1-2-3 fashion when Canaan Smith-Njigba took a 3-and-2 pitch for what should have been strike three and the third out. Instead, the ball snaked underneath catcher Reese McGuire's glove, far enough for Smith-Njigba to reach first safely.
Time for Pivetta to pick up his teammate and record the fourth out of the inning, right? Wrong.
Instead, in the subsequent at-bat vs. Ji Hwan Bae, Pivetta allowed an opposite-field, two-run homer.
McGuire accepted the responsibility for the passed ball, and lamented that he didn't call for a mound visit after Smith-Njigba reached first, giving both himselfr and Pivetta a minute to regroup. Who knows if it would have made a difference, but hours later, the sentiment seemed correct, if delivered in hindsight.
It may have only been the second inning, but remarkably, it stood up. The Red Sox, who had managed a run of their own in the home half of the first, didn't score again the rest of the way -- the Pirates would add two more insurance runs later and come up with a 4-1 victory.
The second inning and Bae's homer was another example of the Red Sox not being able to finish off innings. All the damage came with two out. It was more of the same in the seventh when a run-scoring single from Reynolds tacked on an important pad run off Josh Winckowski.
In Monday's loss, it was more of the same. Of the seven runs the Pirates scored, the first five all came after two outs.
For now, the margin for error is extremely thin for the Red Sox, and every mistake they make seems to be magnified.
They started the year without three projected starting pitchers, removing any sense of depth for their staff. The Sox aren't the only team to be hit by some ill-timed losses in their rotation -- the Yankees have plenty, too -- but because of their talent level, the Sox are more hard-hit.
In each of the first four games, the Red Sox at least had plenty of run support, scoring nine runs three times and six another. Those kinds of outbursts can cover up a multitude of sins and make up for some shoddy pitching performances. It didn't matter that Chris Sale was knocked around the park Saturday when the Sox responded with a ton of runs, covering up for Sale's poor outing.
But on Tuesday, limited to just four hits, the Sox had no place to hide.
Pivetta was....good, fanning six and allowing just three hits over five innings. But unfortunately for the Red Sox, two of those three hits left the ballpark, producing three runs on two swings.
What the Red Sox could use, it seems, is a laugher -- a one-sided victory in which their lineup mashes from top-to-bottom, and the team gets a quality start of six or more innings. No calls to the bullpen, no need for late-inning heroics, no help needed from the opposition.
Maybe the Detroit Tigers can oblige them starting Thursday when they host the Sox for a three-game series.
But for now, the Red Sox have to have everything go right at once to deliver a win. They need a bushel of runs, a shutdown effort from their pitching staff, and if possible, a critical mistake by the other team.
That's a lot to ask for every night, however. And on nights when the pitching is good but not great, the offense is thwarted by some strong defensive plays, and the Sox can't pick one another up to erase an error, well, on nights like that, you get a 4-1 loss to a below-average team.